September | 2009 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for September, 2009

Coney Island Baby: Cyclone, the Mini Donkey at the Ringling Circus

Posted in Animals, circus, tagged baby animal, Boom A Ring, Coney Island, Heidi Herriott, menagerie, mini donkey, miniature donkey, Ringling on September 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Heidi Herriott with Mini Donkeys at the Coney Island Boom a Ring Circus Menagerie. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Last night at the Boom A Ring Circus, I got to meet and take photos of “Cyclone,” a cute and frisky 5-1/2-week-old miniature donkey. Born during the Ringling Circus’s summer run in Coney Island, the baby donkey was named in honor of the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster. The donkeys are housed in a section of the big top called “Animal Open House” which is open to ticketholders 90 minutes before the show. The exhibit includes both performing animals (tigers, elephants) and non-performing animals (llamas, horses, donkeys etc).

Born in Coney Island: Miniature Donkey named "Cyclone." Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

It was a pleasure to meet third generation circus performer and animal trainer Heidi Herriott, who is in charge of the Boom A Ring’s menagerie of non-performing animals. I knew about Heidi’s work organizing a circus division for the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA), but had no idea she was with Ringling in Coney Island until our mutual friend OABA President Bob Johnson said “Say Hi to Heidi.” During my visit, Heidi answered questions from guests, cleaned the stalls and set up this great photo op with the Boom A Ring’s very own Coney Island Baby. More pix in my flickr set. Thanks, Heidi!

Performances of the Coney Island Boom A Ring Circus continue through Monday, September 7. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out everybody’s photos of the show on flickr and see what you’re missing!

Circus performer and animal trainer Heidi Herriott manages Coney Island Boom a Ring's Menagerie. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Coney Island Fireworks: Friday & Sunday on Labor Day Weekend

Posted in amusement park, Events, tagged Coney Island, Cyclone, fireworks, free event, Friday, Labor Day weekend, September, Sunday on September 3, 2009| 2 Comments »

Coney Island Fireworks sign on the door of Steve's Grill House on the Boardwalk. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

UPDATE…MAY 13, 2012…See “Coney Island Fireworks 2012: Fridays, 4 Saturdays & July 4th.” The first Coney Island fireworks show of the 2012 season is on June 15 and the free weekly event continues through August 31.

On Labor Day Weekend 2009 in Coney Island, there will be not just one but two fabulous nights to enjoy free fireworks. The show begins at 9:30 pm on Friday and Sunday night (Sept 4 and 6). Take your pick or stay the weekend! The Friday September 4 show was scheduled to be the last of the season. This week the folks who run Cyclone roller coaster, one of the sponsors of the fireworks, announced the additional Sunday show.

Please patronize the sponsors of the fireworks:The Cyclone Roller Coaster, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, and the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team. Additional participants in the fireworks include the Aquarium, the CIDC and Councilman Domenic Recchia’s office.

Although Labor Day marks the official closing of the beach for the season, many of the rides and attractions remain open on weekends through October. The Cyclone Roller Coaster is open weekends through September 20. Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, the Eldorado Bumper Cars and Arcade, McCullough’s Kiddie Park and other attractions remain open through October. Visit Coney Island Fun Guide for more info.

Read Full Post »

The Sad Anniversary of Coney Island’s Astroland Going Dark

Posted in amusement park, tagged anniversary, Astro Tower, Astroland, Astroland Shrine, Coney Island, memorial, photograph, Thor Equities on September 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The Original Astroland Shrine, December 26, 2008. Photo © Bruce Handy (Pablo57) via flickr

Photographer and Coney Island resident Bruce Handy aka pablo57 has created a set of images on flickr to memorialize the first anniversary of the closing of Astroland. Titled “Astroland Shrine,” the photos and videos have an elegiac beauty and are certain to break your heart all over again. Seeing the removal of the demon from Dante’s Inferno and listening to the wail of the Astro Tower amid the teardown enveloped me in sadness. From Bruce’s intro:

Once upon a time, in the southern part of Brooklyn, in the land of rabbits, named Coney Island, there stood a timeless amusement park named Astroland. Astroland went dark on September 7, 2008 and this is the tale of the boardwalk shrine sprung from our sorrow and grief.

The original shrine was created on December 26, 2008. Four items, a bouquet of flowers, the shrine iconic collage, a hand written note saying to add more items, and a large ink drawing of a ballerina holding an umbrella.

The photo is taken from the point of view of mermaids looking at the shrine from the slats in the boardwalk.

The images in Bruce’s flickr set date from the day after Christmas in 2008, when the Astroland Shrine was created, to March 2009. “I just feel like it’s the right time to post the photos, all in one spot. It’s the gates, again locked,” Bruce says, referring to the locked gates of Dreamland Park. Following a dispute with Dreamland’s manager, property owner Thor Equities abruptly shut down the temporary amusement area on the former Astroland site. “I guess that has brought this on and the anniversary of Astroland going dark coming up. It is very emotional, I don’t know why I’m torturing myself doing it. I will be finished on Sept 7th.”

The Associated Press released a list of highlights in history for Sept 7 that includes “Astroland, New York City’s world famous amusement park at Coney Island, closed after 46 years.” Do you have any special plans to commemorate the anniversary? “Bring MORE flowers. People are afraid to destroy flowers,” says Bruce. ATZ plans to bring a bouquet to the Coney Island History Project’s Astroland Archives Photography Exhibit

The New York Times article from September 8, 2008, “Astroland Closes, This Time, It Appears, for Good,” is worth rereading for the graf about Thor Equities:

Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for Thor Equities, said in a statement that the developer had been in touch with “numerous amusement operators” to discuss setting up “permanent year-round development.” The city and Joseph J. Sitt, the chairman of Thor Equities, which is now the largest landowner in the area, have yet to reach an agreement on how to redevelop Coney Island, though locals worry that the neighborhood will become awash in generic chain stores, condominiums and hotels.

One year later, Sitt has shut down the handful of mom-and-pop amusement operators brought to “Dreamland Park” this season to replace the evicted Astroland. Although the real estate speculator promised “more than 25 fun-filled rides” back in April to match Astroland’s ride count, only about a dozen rides came to Thor Equities’ Dreamland. The Coney rezoning passed in City Council at the end of the July, yet a deal to acquire Sitt’s property, including the former Astroland site, has yet to be announced. “Fundamentally, the deal with him is done,” Mayor Bloomberg recently told the Brooklyn Paper.

ATZ will be in Coney Island on Labor Day, September 7, to enjoy everything Coney Island has to offer in 2009: the 43 rides, the beach, the bars and the world-class people watching on the Boardwalk.

Full disclosure: I’m the Astro fan who created the Astroland collage which was stolen from the park’s gate. As I scrawled in the note begging for the icon’s return, which appears in one of Bruce’s photos: “Please put it back! It took me several hours to make it. I am not an artist, just made it to memorialize Astroland!” Put back Astroland, too! The park’s rides remain in storage.