Don Hanson's Amusement Park

 

IV. Hanson's 1985-1990

During the 1985 season Hanson's Campground and Marina offered slip rentals, boat gas, boat supplies and was now a dealer for Kayot pontoon boats. The restaurant, offering fresh pizza and an attached game room, was also open.

But the 1985 season saw a July 4 DER advisory against swimming at the Lake due to another algae bloom and the Hanson's beach, now $1.00 for admission, was closed along with new pedal boat rides and boat rentals. The bloom was not as serious as in 1981, and elsewhere on the Lake the 1985 advisory was at times ignored.

There was more normalcy in 1986. There was controversy whether the Sunset Beach Association should create a public beach in cooperation with Grotto Pizza whose owner, Joseph Paglianite, offered to nominally lease his beach tract to the association to extend the association's frontage. This project would open in July 1, 1987, with financial support from the county commissioners, but close after the 1988 season.

In late May 1988 Hanson's Park plus 30 acres of adjacent land, 790 feet of Lake front, with the marina, restaurant and LCB license was offered for sale. The Times Leader on June 6, 1988, noted:

 

HARVEYS LAKE - Hanson's Amusement Park complex, a recreational fixture at Harveys Lake since 1929, is being sold for $1.85 million.

Donald and Shirley Hanson have listed the 30-acre parcel with Lewith and Freeman Real Estate Inc., of Wilkes-Barre, according to real estate agent Larry Lebenson.

Interested developers have said they envision building a condominium complex that would include a restaurant, clubhouse, pool and tennis courts, as well as a marina.

Lebenson said he's shown the property to about 24 developers and investors, both local and out-of-state, and sent information to about 12 more.

A developer from California has expressed "real interest" in the property, Lebenson said. He wouldn't release the developer's name, but said he owns several waterfront condominium complexes on the West Coast, as well as in Texas and Colorado.

Included in the sale are the amusement park, campground, marina and restaurant, and 790 feet of lakefront. Three cottages also are included.

The park opened sometime around the turn of the century, and has been owned by the Hanson family since 1929. [ Editor Note: 1930]

The Hansons closed the park in September 1984, and auctioned off many of the rides and amusements. The park's centerpieces were an 80-year-old wooden merry-go-round and a 65-foot-high wooden roller coaster, nicknamed the Speed Hound.

The merry-go-round was sold several years ago but the roller coaster, which was shut down in 1980, is still standing.

 

In April 1989 Don and Bruce Hanson began to dismantle the 65-foot high 1931 roller-coaster, leaving a rear section standing for a later date. The construction of the Speed Hound roller coaster was a collaboration of John A. Miller (1872-1941) and Oscar E. Bittler. John A. Miller is considered the "father of the modern high-speed roller coaster." Based in Homewood, Illinois, Miller participated in the design of nearly 140 coasters and patented over 100 key roller coaster components. Hanson's Roller coaster was built with Douglas fir lumber supplied by the Chapin Lumber Company in Kingston.

Oscar E. Bittler (1896-1958), often spelled Bitler, once lived in Avoca and Moosic and in the late 1920s he was an official of the Lake Ariel Park. He later moved to Allentown where he designed or constructed roller coasters and other amusement rides and facilities, generally in the mid-Atlantic region. In the 1930s he was known as the "Roller Coaster King." In 1937 Bittler moved to Elmira, NY, where he was associated with the city's Eldridge Park, an amusement park which opened in July 1928 and is still operating. Bittler died in Elmira in January 1958 at age 61 from a chronic heart condition.

Hanson's roller coaster had opened on Decoration Day, Saturday, May 30, 1931.

Norton's Auctions in 1984 attributed Hanson's 1948 miniature train, powered by a 4-cylinder Ford engine, and its 1/3-mile 22-inch gauge track, to Bittler, who was then in Elmira.

In 1989 Hanson's opened its facilities in early June noting it was the family's 60th year [Editor Note: 59th] serving the public.

Donald J. E. Hanson died in November 1990 while working on the park grounds. In his youth, Don Hanson attended Kingston schools and later Harvey's Lake schools. He and his brother, Robert, were basically raised in the park. During World War II, Don Hanson served in the Merchant Marine. He was a member of the George M. Dallas Lodge, 531 F&M, Caldwell Consistory, Bloomsburg, and Irem Temple. He had served as a member of the Luzerne County Tourist Promotion Agency and he was a former councilman for Harvey's Lake Borough. Afterwards, Shirley Hanson operated the Hanson interests with family support until the grounds were sold. Son David Hanson managed the boat slip rentals after the beach closed and assisted with the campground operation. Daughter Donna Hanson assisted Shirley Hanson with various food service operations and she also assisted with the campground.

The September 1984 sale of the amusement rides did not in fact close the park. Earlier in 1981 Don Hanson and his son Bruce Hanson opened a campground followed in 1981-82 by a full-scale marina at the park grounds. Bruce Hanson, a third- generation serviceman, was in the U.S. Navy in 1971-1975 serving with a helicopter detachment at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam and with the staff of the 6th Fleet Commander in European waters. He, like his father, was raised at the park and worked there since his youth. Upon his return from the U.S. Navy he would work at the family park from 1976 to 1988.

Hanson's Marina encompassed a beach, 94 boat slips, and it leased Pelican pontoon pedal boats, and "bumper" boats. It also had a Chevron gas station for Lake boaters, and offered pontoon boat rides for Lake visitors. The beach, boat gas and pontoon ride operations closed after the Labor Day 1988 holiday and Bruce Hanson left for other private enterprises, eventually owning the Bayo Ice Company. Boat slip rentals at Hanson's would continue for another 15 years.

V. R.P.M. Old Stars

1988-1996

In April of 1988 a likely "last dance" was planned for June at the Hanson's ballroom by Frank Hourigan, Jr., and Bruce Hanson, featuring the R.P.M. Old Stars, an area retro band playing the nostalgic music of the 1950s and 1960s. The band was organized by Frank Hourigan, Jr., drums, of Mountaintop.

With a "Happening at the Lake" on Saturday evening on June 25, 1988, the R.P.M. Old Stars were joined by Dr. Ange Anzalone and Atty. Jim Anzalone, the Anzalone Brothers, a folk duo who also were reviving an act honed in the 1960s.

 

The June 25 dance drew considerable pre-dance publicity and drew a magical 800 people to Hanson's. With its success a "Dance Party II" promptly followed on July 23, 1988, with R.P.M. and the Anzalone Brothers. They were now joined by Eddie Day whose last appearance on the public stage was in 1982.

Fourteen hundred people danced during the oppressive evening heat of July 23 where the crowd was "elbow to elbow, and the music was loud, loud, loud," with the crowd shouting "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie." It was fifteen years since Eddie Day's last Starfires appearance at Hanson's. In 1965 Eddie Day left the Starfires to form Eddie Day and the Nightimers. In 1967 Eddie Day and T.N.T. was created (and also known as simply TNT). Day remained with T.N.T. until 1982, and he did not return to the stage until Dance Party II at Hanson's Park.

 

On August 27, 1988, the R.P.M. Old Stars again appeared at Hanson's with Eddie Day, now joined with Joe Nardone. It was a special reunion for the two rockers in an "End of Summer Dance." It was a 35 to 40 age crowd of nearly 2,000 that night for a return to the 1960s.

The success of the R.P.M. oldies dances continued through 1989 and into the 1990s. "Summer Dance 90" with R.P.M. was held on June 16, 1990, followed on July 28, 1990, with Eddie Day again joining the R.P.M. Old Stars. Following the July concert Bill O'Boyle, Citizens Voice writer, noted: "The faces were all familiar. They were the faces we used to see every week at Sandy Beach or Hanson's or Sans Souci or Wilkes or Kings. The faces looked the same, the bodies were a little different. But it was the same crowd - that familiar old gang-back to "The Lake" for some fun...."

In 1991 three dances were held: July 27, 1991; August 10, 1991; and August 17, 1991. These were a mix of Eddie Day and the Dayettes, Billy Brown, and Joe Nardone with the R.P.M. Old Stars.

A two-day dance offering held on August 31-September 1, 1991, was billed as the "Centennial Celebration of Hanson's Park" with Eddie Day and the Dayettes, Billy Brown, and the New York Times Band.

There were two August 1992 dances but no dances in 1993. The Harvey's Lake Fire Company held an August 20, 1994, dance with the R.P.M. Old Stars and Dr. EL, and an August 17, 1995, dance with R.P.M. and Eddie Day. The final 1996 R.P.M. Old Stars dance was on August 17.

A fuller article on the R.P.M Old Stars at Hanson's appears elsewhere on this website.

 

 

Copyright May 2020 F. Charles Petrillo