I can still hear the sounds of children laughing and the click of the coaster track. The sound of joy, laughter and childhood. I worked in the office from 1975 to 1980. So many wonderful times with wonderful people. Wilfred J Fregeau, Rena Seney, Fran Dower, Alice, and on and on. I can hear the sounds of the big bands from the 30 and 40's and vision soldiers returning from war riding the carousel. The families enjoying precious hours together. Memories forever.
I drove by the former site of Whalom yesterday. Even with what I knew, I still couldn't get over seeing the entire site leveled. There are already condos being built. The beach is gone too. So many good memories of going there every summer.
its sad to see so many peoples memories left to rot away and be forgotten like that. i love coming to these abandoned theme park videos and reading everyones take on the history of them
When the US let all of their amusement parks all go to ruin, it ruined our amusement. This age will never come again. Going to six flags to wait 30+ minutes for a ride isn't the same thing.
Me too when it shut down I was 14 and was so mad my dad would but me a season pass every year. Glad I got to spend all them summer days and nights there with my friends and sister
I'm 55 now. I went to Whalom Park all the way back in the sixties and then a final time in the seventies when I was in High School and able to drive myself there. Nothing like it. My first wooden roller coaster, the whip, and the tumble bug. I still remember the fun house and the slide to exit. A bygone era. Sad to see.
I got a notification on an old comment I made on a Whalom Park video. It makes me so sad to see one of the parks from the Great Old Ammusement Parks documentary like this. And it closed just 1 year after that documentary was released. At least Lakemont survived the scare of a similar thing happening to it.
When I was a kid living in Dunstable, Ma. the school buses would bring us over to the park after school let out in June..I remember riding the rollercoaster 50 times one year..it was sooo much fun..the fun house with the barrels and the spinning wheel in the middle of the floor that would spit you off..lots of memories..good times. I am talking about the 1950's early60's..never too old to go there.Thanks for the video!!
And in these hard times,families or investors can't afford to keep the smaller parks open.Shame on the investor that bought W P and let it sit empty for so long.
I'm 56. I went here all the time in the 60s and 70s. My last time was in the 80s. My favorite ride was the Pirate's Den, and the fun house was the best! So sad to see it gone. :'(
As a child, my brother and I got season passes every year for Christmas. I spent most of my summers in the late 80's and early 90's here. Watching this video breaks my heart. SO many wonderful memories at Whalom Park (and the waterslide, too!)
I ALWAYS wanted to go here and have always been sad I never got to. Most of my friends went though. It's so sad it's not there anymore. Thank you for the sad yet great video, great song too.
I've never been to Whalom Park, but it still hurts to see such a great old park get shut down. I saw it on a DVD called "Great Old Amusement Parks" that was put out by WQED and aired many times across the nation on the PBS stations. What were the contributing factors to it's closure?
The band I was in at the time played the last ever live music show at Whalom. Unfortunately the only recording of that show is on a badly deteriorating VHS-C tape and can not be recovered.
It burned down either in '78 or '79. I remember starting grade school around there. Was either in Kindergarten or 1'st grade when it went away. I lost all reason to go there ever since.
This absolutely breaks my heart. I hoped one day to take my daughter here just like my parents took me and their parents took them. I cried when I saw what Whalom looks like now. Just absolutely sad and horrible.
money and the lack of it, the park was on a steady decline for the last ten or so years of operation. i remember the pirates den which was burned in the mid 70's if i recall. and the black hole lol if you sat in the last car the drop before you enter the tunnel would pop you out of your seat a bit and you felt like you where going to hit going in
Apparently there are plans to rebuild Whalom Park. They're shooting to build in Lunenburg somewhere close to the waterfront, but if it isn't available, they're looking at neighboring cities Leominster or Fitchburg.
saxboi i hope ur right, but i dont see it. and if they do, its like the old saying, u can never go home again. what was whalom is dead @ buried. whalom is in our hearts @ tears, thank god 4 that at least
Whalom Park was a HUGE part of my life growing up in Leominster MA. My family went a tom of times starting in the lat 50's and as an adult I took friends during my college days in the 70's/80's. I have picyures of some of the clowns around my house and still have dreams of the place. Whalom Park. What a Whale of a time.!
I worked at the park summers when I was in high school circa '59 - '61, worked on the roller coaster punching tickets. It worked like this: when you got on the coaster you got a ticket good for one or more rides. When you got off and went thru the ticket taker, you paid the price depending on how many times you rode it. If no punches on your ticket you paid for one ride. If you had punches on your ticket - you paid that price. I think it was 25 cents for 1st ride and 10 cents for each additional ride. Compare that to today's theme parks! Thanks to scubabob for the memories...
When I went there as a kid before it closed, they charged $5 general admission. It was still a lot cheaper than Riverside (before Six Flags bought it) or Canobie Lake.
Nice job on the video, I really liked the before and after shots. Sad to see Whalom Park go, my parents took me there when I was a young. One of the rides was moved up to Storyland in New Hampshire, forget which one, but at least it still operates!
I used to go here when I was a kid I'm 20. It's sad but this is what our economy has come to, you can blame computers for this loss of amusement.... I live 25 min away.
Oh my word,,, great video. this was where I spent many a summer night .... and right down the street from the home of the Carvel Icecream Cake...."Cookiepuss" the 80's have gone... and hopefully we will be able to find some suitable form of family entertainment other than TV that is....thanks...
those clown faces from the big whalom park sign are at the Lancaster indoor flea market now. I think they also have one of those clown head garbage cans,creepy.
I blame the management. I vividly remember the paint peeling on almost everything the last season it was open in the fall of 2000. On the radio they had advertised thomas the tank engine, the big comfy couch and nascar driver appearances. When we went on the dates the radio described for the events , there was nothing.... We called up the park to complain, and their response was they cancelled all attractions that year. We only went to the park once that year.....
@pinkfloydeffect Not computers...greed. I used to go here when I was a kid in the 70s...I also went to rocky point. I used to go to Rocky Point as an adult...there was NEVER a shortage of people.
I worked there the final years from 97-00, but abruptly quit when the Operations Manager instructed me to commit OSHA violations while operating the rides. I of course reported it and the park was closed a week later... sorry... I did my best to keep it going up until then. I actually convinced management to bring in bands and entertainment in 2000, but alas, even Children of the Korn with an apprearance by Fieldy couldn't save the park. Though that concert did draw 3500+ people.
I can still hear the sounds of children laughing and the click of the coaster track. The sound of joy, laughter and childhood. I worked in the office from 1975 to 1980. So many wonderful times with wonderful people. Wilfred J Fregeau, Rena Seney, Fran Dower, Alice, and on and on. I can hear the sounds of the big bands from the 30 and 40's and vision soldiers returning from war riding the carousel. The families enjoying precious hours together. Memories forever.
I drove by the former site of Whalom yesterday. Even with what I knew, I still couldn't get over seeing the entire site leveled. There are already condos being built. The beach is gone too. So many good memories of going there every summer.
Did not realize they torn down the roller coaster. Thanks for sharing the images. Born at the park. Great memories.
I know, it’s very sad. I remember going nearly every summer in the 80’s, back in my college days atleast.
its sad to see so many peoples memories left to rot away and be forgotten like that. i love coming to these abandoned theme park videos and reading everyones take on the history of them
I hadn't been to Whalom since I was probably 10-12 years old and decided to drive by there today knowing it was gone. This is depressing.
I remember seeing The Wall and Physical Graffiti there
When the US let all of their amusement parks all go to ruin, it ruined our amusement. This age will never come again.
Going to six flags to wait 30+ minutes for a ride isn't the same thing.
it is so sad there are so many abandoned and demolished amusment parks around
I remember going there as a kid.
Me too when it shut down I was 14 and was so mad my dad would but me a season pass every year. Glad I got to spend all them summer days and nights there with my friends and sister
I'm 55 now. I went to Whalom Park all the way back in the sixties and then a final time in the seventies when I was in High School and able to drive myself there. Nothing like it. My first wooden roller coaster, the whip, and the tumble bug. I still remember the fun house and the slide to exit. A bygone era. Sad to see.
I got a notification on an old comment I made on a Whalom Park video. It makes me so sad to see one of the parks from the Great Old Ammusement Parks documentary like this. And it closed just 1 year after that documentary was released. At least Lakemont survived the scare of a similar thing happening to it.
When I was a kid living in Dunstable, Ma. the school buses would bring us over to the park after school let out in June..I remember riding the rollercoaster 50 times one year..it was sooo much fun..the fun house with the barrels and the spinning wheel in the middle of the floor that would spit you off..lots of memories..good times. I am talking about the 1950's early60's..never too old to go there.Thanks for the video!!
And in these hard times,families or investors can't afford to keep the smaller parks open.Shame on the investor that bought W P and let it sit empty for so long.
I'm 56. I went here all the time in the 60s and 70s. My last time was in the 80s. My favorite ride was the Pirate's Den, and the fun house was the best! So sad to see it gone. :'(
As a child, my brother and I got season passes every year for Christmas. I spent most of my summers in the late 80's and early 90's here. Watching this video breaks my heart. SO many wonderful memories at Whalom Park (and the waterslide, too!)
Julie LeClair. at least you have great memories!
I ALWAYS wanted to go here and have always been sad I never got to. Most of my friends went though. It's so sad it's not there anymore. Thank you for the sad yet great video, great song too.
I've never been to Whalom Park, but it still hurts to see such a great old park get shut down. I saw it on a DVD called "Great Old Amusement Parks" that was put out by WQED and aired many times across the nation on the PBS stations. What were the contributing factors to it's closure?
The band I was in at the time played the last ever live music show at Whalom. Unfortunately the only recording of that show is on a badly deteriorating VHS-C tape and can not be recovered.
It burned down either in '78 or '79. I remember starting grade school around there. Was either in Kindergarten or 1'st grade when it went away. I lost all reason to go there ever since.
This absolutely breaks my heart. I hoped one day to take my daughter here just like my parents took me and their parents took them. I cried when I saw what Whalom looks like now. Just absolutely sad and horrible.
money and the lack of it, the park was on a steady decline for the last ten or so years of operation. i remember the pirates den which was burned in the mid 70's if i recall. and the black hole lol if you sat in the last car the drop before you enter the tunnel would pop you out of your seat a bit and you felt like you where going to hit going in
I live down the street from here
It's condos now
Apparently there are plans to rebuild Whalom Park. They're shooting to build in Lunenburg somewhere close to the waterfront, but if it isn't available, they're looking at neighboring cities Leominster or Fitchburg.
saxboi i hope ur right, but i dont see it. and if they do, its like the old saying, u can never go home again. what was whalom is dead @ buried. whalom is in our hearts @ tears, thank god 4 that at least
Whalom Park was a HUGE part of my life growing up in Leominster MA. My family went a tom of times starting in the lat 50's and as an adult I took friends during my college days in the 70's/80's. I have picyures of some of the clowns around my house and still have dreams of the place. Whalom Park. What a Whale of a time.!
I worked at the park summers when I was in high school circa '59 - '61, worked on the roller coaster punching tickets. It worked like this: when you got on the coaster you got a ticket good for one or more rides. When you got off and went thru the ticket taker, you paid the price depending on how many times you rode it. If no punches on your ticket you paid for one ride. If you had punches on your ticket - you paid that price. I think it was 25 cents for 1st ride and 10 cents for each additional ride. Compare that to today's theme parks! Thanks to scubabob for the memories...
When I went there as a kid before it closed, they charged $5 general admission. It was still a lot cheaper than Riverside (before Six Flags bought it) or Canobie Lake.
This is sad. This was so much a part of my childhood in the 80's.
Nice job on the video, I really liked the before and after shots. Sad to see Whalom Park go, my parents took me there when I was a young. One of the rides was moved up to Storyland in New Hampshire, forget which one, but at least it still operates!
I went here one time as a child back in the 90s.
I used to go here when I was a kid I'm 20. It's sad but this is what our economy has come to, you can blame computers for this loss of amusement.... I live 25 min away.
Sad..I used to take the kids there. The fact is, they were not making money at the end-the place was getting pretty rundown
Oh my word,,, great video. this was where I spent many a summer night .... and right down the street from the home of the Carvel Icecream Cake...."Cookiepuss" the 80's have gone... and hopefully we will be able to find some suitable form of family entertainment other than TV that is....thanks...
I got to dj at Whalom many many times .. wish it was still there
Live there now ... between the Fun House and the Till~O~Whirl
those clown faces from the big whalom park sign are at the Lancaster indoor flea market now. I think they also have one of those clown head garbage cans,creepy.
oh man thanks for the uploads, brings back memories.
I wish so this way I can enjoy it now
@krelbar But now kids would rather go on facebook or play video games than go to an amusement park...
forgot about this place
I blame the management. I vividly remember the paint peeling on almost everything the last season it was open in the fall of 2000. On the radio they had advertised thomas the tank engine, the big comfy couch and nascar driver appearances. When we went on the dates the radio described for the events , there was nothing.... We called up the park to complain, and their response was they cancelled all attractions that year. We only went to the park once that year.....
depressing i remember my mom used to take me here =\
Decline of the USA. Sad we used to go a lot wish I could have brought my kids
Tom D I'm having those 1970's nostalgia memories again when we had more independent small business before the darktimes, before the empire.
@pinkfloydeffect
Not computers...greed. I used to go here when I was a kid in the 70s...I also went to rocky point. I used to go to Rocky Point as an adult...there was NEVER a shortage of people.
This was one dinosaur that just had to go. Saw some good bands here and had a great time at the end. RIP WP
I think I only went once!
makes me wanna cry i remember trying to jump out of the comet when i was 5 i was so scared i freaked and tried to jump lol,not so funny to my mom
theme parks screwed these local parks out of business. hate theme parks.
Did they rebuild it yet?
😭😪😭😪
I know the land is there, lol.
I worked there the final years from 97-00, but abruptly quit when the Operations Manager instructed me to commit OSHA violations while operating the rides. I of course reported it and the park was closed a week later... sorry... I did my best to keep it going up until then. I actually convinced management to bring in bands and entertainment in 2000, but alas, even Children of the Korn with an apprearance by Fieldy couldn't save the park. Though that concert did draw 3500+ people.