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the Massachusetts Northeast Street Railway Company.
The railroads and trolley lines mushroomed in America during
the early 1900s, and their new “trolley parks” gave the lines
welcomed revenue on weekends, offering nothing short of a trip
to paradise for the hard-working (60-plus hours per week)
Americans and immigrants. In 1902, the brand new Canobie
Lake Park astounded its trolley-riding visitors with an electric
fountain, athletic field, bandstand, two restaurants, bowling,
penny arcade, photo booth, airplane swing, carousel, figure-eight
rollercoaster and boating on the lake. Imagine your first visit to
Walt Disney World today, and that was a visit to Canobie Lake
then.
Canobie Lake Park grew as the rest of the American
amusement industry did. As the trolleys gave way to
automobiles, lake swimming was replaced by the 250,000
gallon swimming pool (drained and refilled with lake water
daily), the penny arcade led to Skee-Ball and other games of
chance, the gentle rides grew into time-honoured thrill rides
like the Whip and the Dodgem, and the figure-eight was
replaced by the 1936 Greyhound, known today as the Yankee
Cannonball. Post World War crowds flocked to Canobie Lake
Park to see and dance to such greats as Glenn Miller, Tommy
Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Frank Sinatra.
On The Block
Along came television, continued freedom and increased choices
for the automobile-buying Americans, and Canobie Lake Park
was up for sale by 1958. Enter the three families from Palisades
Park. “It was a major risk,” says Carl Berni, “but when we bought
Canobie Lake the amusement industry was already in our blood.”
The task ahead of them was considerable.
“The most important thing after we purchased the park,” says
Laura Berni, Carl's mother and still a leader in Canobie Lake, “was
improving the infrastructure and getting the park in shape. We had
to do that before we purchased any new rides.” Gravel walkways,
constantly washed away with the rains, were replaced with
pavement, existing rides needed overhauling, and buildings needed
upgrading. “It was a labour of love for the three families.”
Carl Berni got his feet wet (literally) running the fish pond for 50
cents an hour. “I worked every summer at the park,” he remembers,
“learning something new every year, every day. Running an
amusement park became all I knew.”
The midway at night
JANUARY 2009
39
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