00:09 - We found our niche

00:10 - you're recreating the past

00:12 - we found our niche.

00:15 - Creating this.

00:17 - Timeless home town amusement resort.

00:20 - For generations to enjoy.

00:32 - Wow so let's go back almost two hundred years ago.

00:36 - My family my ancestors came over from Germany

00:39 - bought this little tract of land for

00:42 - agricultural purposes.

00:44 - Then around the turn of the century around nineteen hundred.

00:48 - You had two streams that ran together where

00:51 - my great grandfather would.

00:52 - Allow people that come down

00:54 - and swim in the swimming pool.

00:57 - That.

00:59 - You know

00:59 - most of the people in the area were minors.

01:02 - So they had something called tallyho people would come down on sun days

01:06 - I have horse and buggy

01:07 - he would feed

01:08 - table divorces for a quarter while you frolicked in the

01:11 - creek

01:12 - little by little he started building.

01:14 - Picnic tables and park benches.

01:17 - Are

01:18 - the story goes my great grandmother said.

01:20 - Geesh

01:21 - what's all the noise out there the barn

01:23 - he said I built these picnic tables we need are our guests need a place to set

01:27 - and she said well chiefs if you do that we're never going to get outta here.

01:31 - So

01:32 - Here we are one hundred years later

01:34 - what started out I guess

01:36 - nineteen twenty six was.

01:38 - A restaurant.

01:40 - Swimming pool

01:41 - and

01:42 - as the powered carousel

01:44 - park kind of grew from there

01:46 - little by little you know through the

01:48 - thirties forties and fifties so on and so forth

01:51 - through those decades

01:52 - that we built

01:53 - a skating rink

01:54 - and rebuilt

01:55 - restaurants and we

01:57 - caught cottages to rent.

01:59 - Then came same.

02:01 - Maybe some other parks that were close like.

02:03 - Where my ancestors would go when.

02:06 - I arrive

02:07 - relocate it

02:09 - but an Eric ennobles.

02:10 - Here we are twenty twenty six we now have over

02:13 - sixty rights.

02:16 - Pool still exists

02:17 - the restaurant that was built the time isn't the same location

02:21 - the building

02:22 - nonexistent.

02:24 - However the

02:25 - floorboards

02:26 - floor joist I guess Joyce said that.

02:28 - Were that of the restaurant that's what the original restaurant was called

02:32 - but today it's

02:33 - called the alamo.

02:35 - Porch

02:36 - throughout those decades.

02:38 - My family didn't really have the money my

02:40 - ancestors didn't have the money to be buying things

02:43 - so they would lease they would rent me and

02:45 - we rented a steam powered carousel we rented the nickel plate

02:49 - train

02:50 - from the burkholder family.

02:53 - Little by little.

02:54 - We were able to purchase some of those things.

02:58 - The train that were on today

03:00 - was

03:00 - something that.

03:02 - My

03:02 - Great grandfather talked about

03:04 - never got to

03:05 - never was able to see it happen

03:07 - so the next generation made it habit for him.

03:13 - Park

03:13 - and the pavilions.

03:15 - I

03:16 - Cover about forty five acres.

03:19 - When I mentioned pavilion super huge company picnic

03:22 - business on the weekend

03:24 - were more than just rides

03:25 - we have a lumberyard that precedes all of it

03:28 - on a hardware store

03:29 - we have seating for ten thousand people

03:31 - that are

03:32 - not all fit within the forty five acres of the park.

03:34 - We have the campground.

03:36 - In fact we have two campgrounds the campgrounds have joined

03:39 - to the park

03:40 - at

03:40 - About another one hundred and fifty acres six hundred sites

03:43 - log cabins we have an eighteen hole golf course

03:47 - girls three pawns

03:49 - and

03:53 - so you know when you get into

03:55 - talking about our rides

03:56 - we are classic rides

03:58 - and

03:59 - so we have the carousel you know that came in the

04:02 - nineteen forty one

04:04 - we opened our grand carousel

04:05 - still there today you figure the generations of families that I've written that

04:10 - one of the few carousel fish but still catch the brass ring on

04:14 - of course

04:14 - if

04:15 - You're lucky enough to do that.

04:17 - You do have to give it back

04:18 - but you get a free ride to get your name and your.

04:22 - Where your home where you

04:23 - live

04:24 - we announced that

04:26 - a fist bump

04:27 - this year you get a special pin that you cut the grass ring.

04:32 - I

04:34 - Mean how many parks you

04:36 - can you still go to

04:37 - where

04:38 - there's a grand carousel

04:39 - and you get to listen to.

04:41 - Some of the classic music from

04:44 - yesteryear playing on those organs sadly so many parks now play

04:49 - like a digitized.

04:52 - Version.

04:53 - Ours

04:53 - we have a team here it's just very passionate about

04:56 - about the carousel organs and

04:58 - so you think of the generations of families that have ridden

05:01 - in our industry you have

05:04 - it's called the golden ticket awards

05:05 - it's the emmys or the oscars of the amusement industry.

05:09 - Every year

05:10 - that the most beautiful

05:12 - merry go round or grand carousel.

05:14 - Award has existed

05:16 - in almost one

05:18 - we actually wanted so many times they retire the award

05:21 - so we have the legend

05:22 - award for the grand carousel

05:24 - best park food we won twenty two

05:26 - out of twenty six years

05:28 - we now have the legend award for best part.

05:30 - My dad

05:31 - dick bubble was able to.

05:33 - Achieve greatness and you want a legit award so.

05:37 - The

05:37 - joke with our other

05:38 - amusement park friends

05:40 - or do they have as many legend awards as we do I dunno

05:43 - and.

05:54 - So then we'll fast forward

05:56 - and.

05:58 - Hurricane Agnes

06:00 - get cannibals and all but decimated globals nineteen seventy two

06:03 - right around hurricane actors they had start building

06:06 - the

06:07 - haunted mansion so it's a pretzel themed ride.

06:11 - Very classic people absolutely love

06:13 - our haunted house.

06:15 - Won many awards thirty.

06:18 - But when they were building at.

06:20 - The skating rink was pummeled by hurricane Agnes

06:23 - and they kind of called a brief time out building the haunted mansion.

06:27 - I think.

06:28 - His.

06:30 - Skating rink salvageable.

06:32 - Can we fix it can we reopen it

06:34 - full steam ahead we're going to fix skating rink and we're going to build a hon battle

06:38 - so so

06:39 - haunted mansion opened nineteen seventy three

06:41 - it was supposed to open

06:43 - may the thirtieth nineteen seventy three.

06:46 - However.

06:48 - I was born

06:49 - and my mom and dad had to be in the hospital so

06:52 - the

06:52 - haunted mansion was

06:53 - was delayed a few weeks I finally opened June thirtieth

06:57 - nineteen seventy three.

07:03 - Then

07:09 - fast forward to the Phoenix.

07:11 - So growing up.

07:13 - In the park playing hide and go seek with my cousins kicked ball in the park.

07:18 - Every nook and cranny

07:19 - you know crawling all over everything.

07:22 - You know.

07:23 - I remember many of the conversations at the kitchen table with my mom and dad

07:27 - but I don't remember all of them.

07:30 - I can't remember a single conversation

07:32 - about moving a wooden roller coaster

07:35 - from San Antonio Texas

07:38 - to Italy's berg Pennsylvania.

07:40 - Not one I dunno.

07:42 - When my dad and

07:43 - then John fetterman

07:45 - one of the secrets to our success talked about doing this

07:48 - and

07:48 - my dad's

07:49 - brother and sis after a buddy can noble and Leanna.

07:53 - I don't remember the conversations but

07:55 - what I remember

07:57 - is.

07:58 - We got busy.

08:07 - You think about

08:08 - these legacy families that come back

08:11 - not only year after year

08:13 - but sometimes month after month.

08:15 - When disappears

08:17 - nine

08:17 - family members that come to work every day.

08:20 - We're boots on the ground were in the park

08:22 - and when we see a family

08:24 - here put the second time in a season.

08:27 - That tells us we're doing something right.

08:31 - Actually over fifty years.

08:33 - When we were dating we came.

08:36 - What is it about this place.

08:39 - We just

08:40 - always camped here and

08:42 - had a great time and then when our

08:43 - kids came along we brought them they loved it and then the grandkids came and

08:47 - they love it so we make it a tradition

08:49 - all of the roller coasters are amazing the wooden ones

08:52 - especially phoenixes are the most the best rated one.

08:55 - I just love the wooden roller coaster I love the food they have here.

08:59 - Come down here for breakfast it was just amazing.

09:02 - And

09:03 - mighty

09:04 - and I

09:06 - can't say

09:07 - what do you like about camp.

09:09 - I like that we get

09:10 - have.

09:12 - We get to sleep anytime.

09:14 - I

09:15 - Take my kids.

09:16 - It means a lot that I can bring my own kids here and kind of.

09:20 - See the things I grew up with

09:23 - so it's very family oriented

09:25 - and

09:26 - we have a lot of traditions that are that surround

09:28 - us

09:29 - Like the fact that it's a nice safe place there's

09:32 - no.

09:33 - Open is no charge to get in it's it's.

09:36 - Very family oriented so

09:38 - all those factors and factor into the decision the gunner.

09:42 - How does our business model work when others

09:48 - haven't.

09:49 - I'll be honest

09:49 - we don't know.

09:51 - Flat out do not know

09:53 - there's an

09:53 - industry legend

09:55 - named Dennis spiegel

09:56 - from the Cincinnati

09:58 - area

09:58 - who's

09:59 - made

10:00 - a comment kind of before like.

10:02 - Donald

10:03 - apple's thrived.

10:04 - Continues to thrive when when others close their doors or

10:08 - put up a

10:09 - fence because

10:10 - parks learn

10:11 - they could make more money

10:13 - by charging for parking

10:14 - by putting up a fence

10:16 - and

10:17 - they

10:18 - may be in a way laugh all the way to the bank.

10:21 - That's not who we are.

10:28 - Yeah we were a business ninety nine years before we created

10:32 - a vision statement and part of that vision statement is

10:36 - living out.

10:37 - Henry's dream

10:38 - the way the stories go as I mentioned earlier

10:41 - Patty was a little.

10:43 - I'm

10:43 - not so sure she wanted to do this she thought she married a farmer

10:47 - and

10:48 - it just continued but

10:50 - so when we designed the statues

10:52 - we made sure that they were holding hands

10:55 - wanted it to

10:57 - show that Hattie is showing support over a husband

11:00 - and all history so

11:01 - here we are

11:03 - yeah how much years later.

11:05 - Trying to make him proud

11:06 - I have a

11:07 - marine corps father who was never afraid to

11:10 - stick a sport in my pants

11:11 - every once in a while I wonder

11:13 - is Henry doing the same

11:14 - we want to remain Pennsylvania hometown park.

11:17 - So one hundred years from now.

11:19 - I hope

11:20 - we still don't charge for parking.

11:22 - I hope

11:23 - we still don't.

11:24 - Charge an admission fee to go in.

11:26 - The canopy of trees

11:28 - that we have here in the grove as many of the viewers know it as.

11:32 - Just sit on a park bench

11:33 - and just.

11:35 - Enjoy.

11:37 - The architecture that god provided

11:39 - I'm still going to be here to one hundred so

11:41 - I hope the viewers are too.