43
Coaster gets special designation
Big Dipper is the oldest standing coaster in Ohio.
The Big Dipper roller coaster at the now-defunct Geauga Lake amusement park has been given a special designation by a group that promotes coaster preservation.
American Coaster Enthusiasts has put its Roller Coaster Landmark tag — an honor it bestows on coasters of historic significance — on the wooden ride, which closed along with the park two years ago.
“Our hope is that this designation will spark some interest in preserving this ride for future generations to come,” either at this site or at another location, said Howard Gillooly, preservation director of ACE.
When the Aurora park closed permanently at the end of the 2007 season, Big Dipper was the 14th-oldest roller coaster in the world, and the 10th-oldest in the United States. Having originally opened in 1925 under the name Sky Rocket, it was renamed Clipper in the late 1940s. In 1969, it became known as Big Dipper, and in 1980, it received a major restoration.
The coaster was purchased at auction for $5,000 by an anonymous bidder in June 2008. It still sits intact at its original site although it’s not open to the public, said Gillooly. “We do not know what his ultimate goal is with the coaster,” he said. “We wish we knew.”
Big Dipper is one of the last roller coasters built by John Miller, an inventor whose innovations are still used on coasters constructed today, according to Gillooly. Although Miller designed hundreds of roller coasters, only 13 of them remain standing, and only nine are still in operation.
Big Dipper will join four other Miller coasters with the Landmark designation. It also is the oldest standing coaster in Ohio.
“To permanently lose such a classic ride as Big Dipper would be a real loss for the region,” said David Hahner, ACE historian. “Not only is it a historically valuable ride, it was tremendously fun ... one of the best wooden roller coasters in the state of Ohio.”
With nearly 1,500 coasters destroyed in the United States alone over the last century, the Big Dipper’s survival itself was an unlikely feat, said Gillooly. “They just don’t make them like this anymore,” he said. “There are so few left from this era.”
Big Dipper joins three other coasters in Ohio with the Landmark distinction: The Beast and Racer at Kings Island near Cincinnati, and Magnum XL 200 at Cedar Point in Sandusky. There also are three coasters in western Pennsylvania with the same distinction: The Racer and The Jack Rabbit at Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh, and The Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park.
Founded in 1978, American Coaster Enthusiasts is the largest amusement-park enthusiast organization in the world, with more than 6,000 members.