Memories of Idora Park abound at program today

YOUNGSTOWN

Jim Amey fondly recalled spending part of the summer of 1976 working at Idora Park amid plenty of food, attractions and merriment.

Seventeen years and one Air Force career later, however, he spent part of the time at the legendary amusement park dealing with heartbreak.

“I walked through the devastation of Idora Park, but the ballroom was still there,” Amey said, referring to when he and his wife, Toni, saw for the first time what was left of the park after a fire had swept through nine years earlier. “The devastation was really getting to me.”

That was one of several memories Amey shared during today’s “All Idora” program at the Brier Hill Cultural Center, 149 Jefferson St. on the North Side.

He began collecting as many Idora artifacts as possible, the first being a porcelain light socket. But his collection also includes a Tilt-a-Whirl car as well as three cars from the Wildcat roller coaster.

Saturday's program also included Richard S. Scarsella, an Idora Park historian and president of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society.

Read more about it in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.