News: Conneaut Lake Park to open after all

Posted at 9:06 AM EDT (1306 GMT)

May. 3rd, 2006 -- On Monday it looked like Conneaut Lake Park was closing for good as they laid off their employees and announced the closure of the park unless a needed $250,000 was received by Friday. Twenty-eight hours later the park announced that it expected to come to terms with a new lender willing to provide the needed money.

Court appointed park overseer LeRoy Stearns on Tuesday said that it looked promising enough that they had recalled all of their employees back to work and were once again working on preparations for opening. They were only waiting for approval of the loan terms by the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, necessary because the park is a charitable trust.

Last week, Stearns had asked the court to approve a possible sale of 3.3 acres of land at the park. That sale would provide enough money to pay off the park's debt as well as provide the $250,000 needed to open. Plans for the sale are still proceeding.

The park has been closed for only one season in its 114 year history. That was 1995, when a local group that owned the park declared bankruptcy. Gary Harris purchased the park the next year and reopened it. He operated the park for 2 years before he turned it over to the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, which operated the park as a trust for the people of northwestern Pennsylvania.

After its original board was reduced down to one member the park fell under court management, with it subsequently being declared a charitable trust.


For more information see the Meadville Tribune