Thursday, September 9, 2010

dinotown ~ no more

Dinotown...a fixture in our community for some thirty-five years...closed it's gates forever on Labour Day. It was apparently North America's only dinosaur themed amusement park...and entertained several million visitors through the years.

When the amusement park first opened...it was called the Flintstones. 

How well I remember fun times at the park with our children and their friends...photo 1979.


When Heidi was fourteen...she began working at the amusement park during the summer.  To her...it was more play than work...and she always hoped they would call her in on her days off! 

Her friends quite enjoyed visiting her at her workplace!  

In 1995 the park opened for the season with a new theme...as a dinosaur theme park.  Heidi spent a few summers on the dinosaur stage...and can still do her song and dance for us.  Hearing it was the final season for Dinotown...she bought season's passes for herself and Magdelyn this year...and they visited the park many times this summer.  We joined them there on Friday...with Ryder and Ranen in tow...


...and a good time was had by all!  The stage was empty...and inviting...and so they put on their own stage show.


And the sun was shining...so the water park was irresistible.


One last climb on the dinosaurs...one last romp in the bouncy castle...a last ride on the Dinotown train...


...one last DeeDee hug...and a very good thing came to an end.  

We will miss having Dinotown in our neighbourhood...but we will treasure the memories.


12 comments:

  1. Yes, so by gone are the days of our Dino...and yet we all have those wonderful memories. I enjoyed seeing your children playing years ago...and now it's those little tykes.
    I wonder what will replace Dino?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh that's too bad...I'm glad to see the children having fun through the years. That Ryder and Ranen make a great dance team!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahh what fun and it's so cool that you have the photos for a few decades :0)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes ..I still have to give my so long to the Flinstones park on my blog too. I love that you got to go there on the last weekend it is open. Such great memories at that place.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh.. that's too bad! I'm so glad we fit in our second generation at Dinotown pics last summer!

    ReplyDelete
  6. How sad. It is always hard to lose a place that is packed full of memories. Thanks goodness for photos, the memories we can hold....

    Adorable little ones!!

    Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know how you feel, Judy, as a local amusement park closed near me a few years ago. I had enjoyed it as a child, and so had my children. I was hoping grandchildren would be able to go one day but it wasn't to be. I'm glad you were all able to have an enjoyable "last time"!

    Magdelyn is getting so big I almost didn;t recognize her..she is so adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember driving by in June and hearing about the upcoming closure. it's like a chapter ending, somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My husband and I grew up in Whatcom County and we were driving through there a few weeks ago and we were so sad to see it close! Hopefully somebody will come in and reopen it someday.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Magdelyns been talking about dexter and dee dee all week. We've told her their on vacation, and she was pretty sure they'd gone on a boat (?)

    Though this morning we asked her where dexter was and she responded :The farm. With Papa.

    Cute

    ReplyDelete
  11. How fun this day must have been, yet sad to have it coming to it's end.
    These parks are always so fun to remember years later, through the generations.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well that's just sad! Glad you got to go one more time. The kids sure look like they had a great time! I read more about your "summit" at Anneliese's blog. She really loves all you girls. What a blessing to have such wonderful friends who share the same heart for God!

    ReplyDelete

'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson