A nostalgic but sad afternoon for me.
Last week a fire destroyed the Opera House in Joyland’s Frontier Town. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, most likely set by vandals, but not before it gutted the already delapidated building. There were no injuries, but it was one more nail in the coffin for Joyland.
Although I didn’t grow up in the Wichita area, my children did and we spent many hours and dollars at Joyland.
It was a sad thing to wander the grounds after the fire trucks and TV reporters had left, remembering the rides that are now a relatively minor, yet still significant part of our collective memories.
Is it the loss of Joyland that is sorrowful, or is it simply a reminder that I might have lost those faint memories had I not had one more opportunity to revisit an amusement park that is now disappearing?
How many more memories would be gone if not for the photographs? Here are the most recent pictures.