Embattled Conneaut Lake Park prepares for opening day

May 11--It's too soon to predict what the weather will be when Conneaut Lake Park opens for the season on May 23. But it's an easy bet that a cloud of uncertainty will be hanging over the 122-year-old amusement park.

The publicly owned park heads into the 2014 season facing growing impatience from taxing bodies hoping to collect delinquent taxes, a possible sale of the property, the proposed ouster of the board of directors by the Pennsylvania attorney general and an offer by the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County to take control.

Leonard Adams, whose family's Adams Amusements is leasing the park's rides, games and concessions, is focused on more immediate matters.

Adams said he plans to be ready for the park's opening.

"We're here, we have a contract and we're going to honor that contract," he said.

Jack Moyers, chairman of the park's board of directors, echoed that same focus.

"All aspects of the park will be open and operating," he said. "There's not much more I can say."

Asked about the legal challenges, he said, "Our goal has been to do everything we can as trustees, given our limited resources, to keep it (the park) here. It may come down to where we have to ask our fans to help us."

Volunteers helped clean the midway last weekend. But solving its larger problems will take money.

The park, which owes back taxes of about $900,000, faces a tax sale scheduled for September.

More recently, though, Crawford County'sSummit Township, one of several taxing bodies due money from the park, endorsed a plan that could force a sale to take place sooner.

And other issues loom.

The attorney general's petition to replace the board was based, in part, on its failure to buy fire insurance on the park, which has lost two major buildings to fire over the past several years.

The Dreamland Ballroom, which once featured stars like Perry Como and Doris Day, was destroyed by a 2008 fire.

More recently, fire claimed the park's Beach Club on Aug. 1.

All of this has Crawford County Commissioner Sherman Allen wondering about the future of the park, located just a mile or so from where he grew up.

Allen said he and his fellow commissioners have endorsed a plan that would turn the park over to the Economic Progress Alliance, a local economic development group, which has offered a plan to replace the existing board and pay down the park's debts.

But Allen recognizes the park's problems are nothing new."There have been a number of different boards, but nobody has been able to get it turned around, for whatever reason," he said. "Not everything lasts forever."

Maybe not, but Mark Turner, executive director of the Economic Progress Alliance, said he thinks there's hope for a reinvented Conneaut Lake Park.

Doing more of the same isn't going to work, he said.

"We aren't talking about saving a vintage amusement park, but (transforming) it to a public events (venue) and amusement park, where the fences and no-trespassing signs come down," he said.

Turner said he understands that taxing bodies are eager to collect long-overdue debts. They can't be blamed if they push for a quick sale, he said.

But he also worries an opportunity could be lost forever if the park is liquidated.

"I think we can do it," he said. "It's worth trying."

JIM MARTIN can be reached at 870-1668 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmartin.

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