What’s Your History?

Dave Hahner will be presenting on his book Images of America: Geauga Lake: The Funtime Years of 1969-1995

In 1968, three businessmen left their jobs at Cedar Point in Sandusky to purchase Geauga Lake Amusement Park. Geauga Lake had been a summertime escape since the 1870s, but by the 1960s it had fallen on hard times. The businessmen’s company, Funtime, Inc., transformed the aging facility into a modern amusement park and established a reputation as an innovative operator in one of the nations most competi-tive amusement park markets. Geauga Lake became the first park with two looping roller coasters and the first to integrate a full-scale water park, Boardwalk Shores. The company broke even more new ground in 1988 when it resurrected a classic roller coaster design to construct Raging Wolf Bobs. Images of America: Geauga Lake: The Funtime Years of 1969-1995 captures the parks transformation and some of the countless memories that resulted from Funtimes 26-year ownership.

Dave is a member of the society and the author of Kennywood: Images of America published in 2004.