Today it was announced that Indiana Beach has been purchased by a new owner that plans to reopen the amusement park. Several weeks prior it had been announced that the park was going to close after 94 years of operation. Indiana Beach is getting another chance to go forward. I received this information as wonderful news. For ten seasons I worked at Indiana Beach. The place holds a special place in my heart. I am grateful that for a while longer that Indiana Beach has life and will remain open.
For ten seasons I worked at Indiana Beach doing every job imaginable in the place. I was customer service. I operated amusement rides. If someone needed to light stunt performers on fire, well I was the guy for that too. I experienced so much in my summers at the park. It shaped so much of my mindset and my life. Eternal gratefulness is the best description of my attitude towards the place and everything I experienced there.
Being 35 years old now I can look back on the past and see different things that have shaped me. For many people they look at their high school, college, or neighborhood as the place that shaped them. Those places all shaped me a bit, but Indiana Beach carried so much weight. I learned about work there. I learned about community there. As time moves on, I understand how much I did love working at that place.
It was an emotional time when I heard that the Indiana Beach was going to be closed. The news of Indiana Beach closing was like the news of a lost friend. With all the time I spent there, I left a little part of myself in that place. I think anytime you spend years of your life in a place, you can end up leaving part of yourself there. So now I can just be glad this special place is back in business.
We get special places in our lives. Indiana Beach is one of those places for me. I am happy this place is going to continue. It is such a special place in so many ways. To list all the ways would take more time than I have tonight. The place was real, it was make believe, it was a dream, it was hope for those of us that stayed there long enough to get to know the place. That place is a living breathing thing, it is alive in mysterious ways. I am grateful that this place that was such a huge part of my story is alive a little longer.