hellohello

Boyer is a small candy company based in Altoona that itself has had all kinds of management/money/labor problems. They bought the park in the mid 80s and attempted to turn it into something more like Hershey Park and spent lots of money making lots of changes. I didn't start visiting the park until the early 90s so I really can't elaborate on what all changed, but the big thing that locals remember is that all of the trees were chopped down. After a couple of years, Boyer sold the park and the name changed back. The main thing I remember about Lakemont as a kid was that the little kiddie coaster there used to scare the crap out of me was responsible for a ride operator losing his leg when it ran him over shortly after I rode it. The story made it to Rescue 911. I remember the Twister ride being one of their better ones. It's sort of a Tilt-a-Whirl type ride.

I mentioned in another thread that I work at DelGrosso's, and I have to say that based on things I've heard, if it weren't for the baseball stadium, the Wing-Offs, and the Lights on the Lake (which is pretty cool), Lakemont would be in screwed financially. I haven't been there in a couple of years, but I hear lots of stuff from customers and coworkers. It's dirty, the rides aren't kept-up well, the food is all shipped in and reheated, the whole no-trees thing, etc. I know that my parents were always reluctant to take us there simply because of memories of how much nicer the park was before the whole Boyertown fiasco. I went to a baseball game last year on a Friday evening in August. The parking lot was full, but everyone was in the stadium. The park was closed on a night when DAP would have been open past 9.

I just stumbled here by accident. I work at DelGrosso's. From what I understand, they were originally going to demolish one of the concession/game buildings (the big blue one near the train, if you've been there) and put the Revolution there, but for whatever reason, this never happened. There are eight DelGrosso siblings and when it comes to making decisions about what goes on at the park, every single decision must be unanimous for anything to happen. It's a wonder anything gets done. There used to be a handful of houses behind the Crazy Mouse, but the family has slowly been buying them up and knocking them down. There are still two holdouts, though. One of the houses is directly behind the Crazy Mouse. They like to sit on the porch and yell at us as we cut through their property to get into the park. My guess is that once these two houses are gone (and who knows when that might happen), then the park can expand that way. And how strange that they're switching out two of their newer rides already. Hm.