When All The People Have Gone...

 I cannot tell you how many hours I spent there. Not only did I begin working at Lagoon Amusement Park when I was sixteen-years old, but for at least a decade I spent every summer day (except Sundays...) as a kid running around the park and swimming in water fit to drink.

Hours and hours and hours.

There was a time when I could tell you when the park installed their new rides...it was usually two a year, sometimes less. I knew every uneven surface of blacktop--because I used to wash down the park every morning beginning at 4am. I knew every uneven terrace picnic table--because we swept and papered every terrace picnic table beginning at 4am. And I knew every pinball machine that gave out free credits--because after a long day at the pool, we hung out at the Penny Arcade and we rarely had money.

I'm sure millions of photos are taken every year at the park, but while staying late for Frightmares rehearsals, all the people with their sounds and smells and laughs and cries and screams were gone. The place is very photogenic when people are there. At night when they've all gone, it's beautiful.

I can think of a thousand places to take amazing photographs of the park at night. Last week I stood in one spot and shot what I could see. The Mother Goose Shoe that's been in Kiddie Land before I ever went to the park (and that at one time we used to be able to climb all over...), the crammed kiddie rides, boats, the jr. speedway, helicopters, and the spaceships with those unforgettable laser sounds.

People come to Lagoon for many reasons. Some love the rides, others the games, others a chance to see their kids having the time of their lives. Some come just to see the other people who decided to go, and some for the entertainment.

Me? 

Other than the swimming pool, I wasn't really a rides person. Even now, after working there for several seasons, it's been years since I rode a ride. No, I go now because they pay me to be part of an amazing team, putting on an unbelievable show. I've gone to the park when there are tens of thousands of people, and I've been there many times when there are almost none.

This is what part of the park looks like...

When all the people have gone.