Rocky Point opening: ticket to memories, new park

John Howell
Posted 10/23/14

When the new state Rocky Point Park opens Saturday, visitors won’t need a ticket to get in, but if they stop by the Rocky Point Foundation display they can get a vintage one for free.

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Rocky Point opening: ticket to memories, new park

Posted

When the new state Rocky Point Park opens Saturday, visitors won’t need a ticket to get in, but if they stop by the Rocky Point Foundation display they can get a vintage one for free.

These are tickets from the days when Rocky Point operated as an amusement park. They’re tickets for a “full” lobster dinner, tickets for a soda and tickets for clam cakes. Bundles of the tickets were rescued from the Shore Dinner Hall before the building was torn down. They weren’t the only items to be saved before the hall, Palladium and Windjammer were leveled this summer.

Thanks to Department of Environmental Management personnel, plates, glasses, bowls, as well as a few chairs and benches were salvaged before the buildings were reduced to rubble. The foundation plans to sell them to raise funds in its efforts to support park projects, such as the erection of a park sign and maybe, as has been suggested, the reconstruction of the Rocky Point gateway with its colorful “rocking” letters.

“It was like they just stood up and walked out,” said Mayor Scott Avedisian of all that was left behind when the amusement park closed in 1995.

Avedisian walked through the Palladium and the Windjammer in advance of the wrecking crew. What he found in the darkened buildings were buckled dance floors from roof leaks, a bed of broken dishware – the work of vandals – and, as he recalled earlier this week, a soggy Francis X. Flaherty for Governor poster.

Conditions were even worse at the Shore Dinner Hall. Storms – hurricanes, that is – had blown out many of the building’s picture windows with their panoramic views of the bay. Sections of the roof collapsed, as had the flooring.

Avedisian said he didn’t venture too far into the building for fear he would have ended up in the sub level, where there had been a machine shop in addition to refrigerators and an area giving onto the clam cake and chowder takeout booth.

From the Windjammer and Shore Dinner Hall, scores of plates, bowls and cups – some looking like they never made it to a dishwasher before the park closed – were saved. A limited amount of this dinnerware will be for sale at the park this Saturday.

On Tuesday, Rocky Point Foundation board member Kate Stark, assisted by Tim Forsberg, a confirmed Rocky Point junkie who is special projects coordinator at the Warwick Beacon, and Stephanie Shuster, wife of one of the foundation’s founders, George Shuster, boxed up dinnerware and drove to the Pilgrim Senior Center.

Jean Keane, kitchen manager at the center, offered to run the china through the dishwasher. The next step will be affixing labels assuring its authenticity – after all, there won’t be any traces of lobster claws, corn kernels or clam cake crumbs left…thankfully.

The dinnerware will sell for $10 an item, which Forsberg claims is a bargain since he’s found similar “Buffalo” china on eBay at double the price. The foundation will also be selling commemorative T-shirts dated Oct. 25, 2014 for $15.

The opening of the 83 acres acquired by the state that adjoins the 41 shoreline acres bought by the city in 2007 will happen in two stages:

On Friday, at 10 a.m., the governor, the state’s congressional delegation, Avedisian and local state and city officials will tour the cleaned-up park following a formal ceremony. In keeping with happy memories of Rocky Point, the ceremony doesn’t promise to be overly serious. And if it does turn that way, the Vets High School band will lighten things up with its rendition of the Rocky Point jingle.

On Saturday, there will be more music. This time a 12-piece band, which the foundation has retained, will play old-time favorites. Park gates will open at 10 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Food trucks offering a range of foods will be on hand, in addition to displays by Save the Bay, Jason Mayoh and his extensive collection of Rocky Point memorabilia and Rhode Island School of Design students showing possible developments for the park, among others. A brief ceremony and speaking program with Avedisian, DEM director Janet Coit and others will start about 11:30 a.m.

Not all of the park, acquired with a 2010 bond issue, will be immediately accessible to the public. Cleanup of the Rocky Beach cottages continues and, until that is completed in another several weeks, the fence separating the city and state portions will remain in place. Also, there will be no vehicular access to the park, except on the opening days, for an indefinite period.

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  • fenceman

    Big deal, the park opens. No vehicle access. Sensless, must be the Travis plan.

    Friday, October 24, 2014 Report this

  • johnmal1

    Looking forward to seeing the renewed Rocky Point and getting access (legally) to the midway after all these years. I've heard from many people that are making the trip on Saturday, and it's a BIG DEAL for the fans of Rocky Point to finally get back to the point.

    Friday, October 24, 2014 Report this

  • gar3131

    Beautiful job, great opening! Haven't seen that many people at the park in many, many years. And the views, from "on high" were spectacular. Nice job, all! Fenceman, whoever you are, the parking lot was open, hundreds of cars were there today. Let's hope they make it possible to enter the park from the Bay - the traffic jams on Warwick Ave and Palmer were reminiscent of the past, and not in a good way...

    Saturday, October 25, 2014 Report this