Podcast
Meyer’s Lake Amusement Park Canton, Ohio
Cleveland Avenue North & 4th Street Canton, Ohio November 3, 2017
The carousel spinning and spinning…
The lights, the sounds, the horses…
All of these elements added up to one thing. Pure joy, for all ages.
Every generation looks for a way to bring together people of all ages. Meyer’s Lake was the glue that held all ages together for many generations in Canton, Ohio. Just say the phrase, “It used to be at Meyer’s Lake…” to a native of Stark County and watch her face light up with a certain joy not found in many other places.
The Carousel at Meyer’s Lake brought joy to many people from all over the country. In the early 1970’s, when the amusement park came to an end, this Merry-go-round was packed up and shipped to Hartford, Connecticut. It was unpacked, a sight was chosen, and it was assembled in Bushnell Park for many more generations to enjoy.
Bushnell Park is situated at the base of the Connecticut State House
My wife Alyson Bachtel Holland and I had the opportunity to ride this historic artifact that once brought children and adults of Stark County a sense of pure joy! As we chose our horse and we listened for the next bell, and the music to begin we felt nostalgic and we were drawn closer to the memories of our parents riding this carousel over and over., when it sat in Meyer’s Lake. You can’t buy that feeling…
Listen now, as we take you on this ride, Circling Joy…
Archivist's Attic... 
Great post, Mark. Stark County should be grateful that the Ride is still going. Wish it was still here.
Comment from Michael Bachtel: The blogger’s brother-in-law
There was always a certain smell at Meyer’s Lake – not unpleasant. I remember the smell of probably thousands of petunias that lined an ellipse and promenade between the beer garden and the rest of the park. That would combine with the luxurious aroma of sweet, hot grease from the fryers making Belgian waffles and fried dough elephant ears; you’d smell cotton candy and candy apples and smoldering cigars and every so often the gray-green scent of lake water would drift across the midway. Depending on where you were walking in the park, you’d hear the crack from the air rifles in the shooting gallery, the honks and buzzes from the horns on the rides, the merry-go-round and the laughing lady and the clutch at the top of the roller coaster. Seagulls, pigeons and sparrows would add their voices to the chorus while on the lookout for the french fry or the popcorn or the ice cream cone that missed the wastebasket.
Not so much like Kiddieland or Cedar Point that both had a very modern feel – and that would be modern for 1967, Myers Lake, as I look back, even in color pictures, had a very European, very old world kind of atmosphere – made for life in black and white. Not counting the age of the original Myers Lake as a resort, but just in its life as an amusement park – the Stardust Restaurant and the Moonlight Ballroom each have lives and stories of their own, but when you see newsreel pictures of places in Vienna or Paris or Berlin in the split second of world history between the depression and before the second world war where there were little pony rides and sailboats and merry-go-rounds and families just out for a stroll and maybe something sweet or even beer and pretzels, you could bring those same people from there to Canton and they’d feel right at home. Still in their good Sunday church clothes and hard shoes, pushing a stroller and eating their ice cream cones. Way cool.
Thanks for sharing…!