Beach brings back the rides Bumper cars, roller coaster return for the weekend

SALISBURY — When cousins Brian and Tim Mulcahy recall the Salisbury Beach Center of their youth, they remember the rides their fathers owned and ran.

Those rides bring back epic memories for many who knew Salisbury Beach in the old days.

"I remember the roller coaster that ran from Broadway to Oceanfront South," Tim Mucahy reminisced yesterday as he walked into a revived Pirates Fun Park at Salisbury Beach Center. "I remember the Dodg'ems (bumper cars) my father had built at a factory in Lawrence. I remember the Ferris wheel that stood on the beach for 50 years."

Both men remember living in Salisbury Center each summer but having parents who didn't let them frequent the rides they owned as often as one might think.

"We were only allowed to come here and ride once a summer," Brian Mulcahy said as his cousin nodded. "But on that day, we owned the roller coaster. We rode it all day until the operators kicked us off because we were jumping from one car to another and driving them crazy."

Those rides have been gone for decades, but this weekend a renaissance of sorts comes to Salisbury Beach, as the organizers of Salisbury's Sand and Sea Festival bring carnival rides back to Pirates Fun Park. They may not be as large or as historic, but bumper cars, a roller coaster, giant slide, pumpkin car ride and more will bring back at least the feel of yesteryear, if not its grandeur.

Beginning tonight about 5 and running throughout Saturday and Sunday, the rides are back, according to Salisbury Beach Partnership director and festival organizer Kathy Aiello.

The reason is simple.

"Last year, everybody asked for them," Aiello said. "When people spoke with us at last year's Sand and Sea Festival, they thanked us for the event, told us how wonderful it was, the memories it brought back of Salisbury Beach's glory days, but they asked us to bring back the rides."

It wasn't easy, she said, and it only happened because of Brian Mulcahy's connections in the amusement ride industry. That network allowed him to make contact with Mark Fanelli's Traveling Amusement Park out of Rindge, N.H., Aiello said, which this week set up rides, which passed state inspection and open tonight.

Sponsorship of the area is thanks to $20,000 given by presenting sponsor the Institution for Savings, Aiello said, and the work of many was needed to clean up the former Pirates Fun Park so it could become again a "comfortable and welcoming area for the rides," she said. The rides are not free, she added, and will cost from $1 to $4 per ride. But the rides weren't free in decades past, so that at least remains the same.

The rides add a nostalgic touch to the weekend full of fun activities, ranging from Toyota/Sea Doo watercraft races, pizza eating contests, pet parades, food concessions, a kids' fair, street performers, volleyball tournaments, concerts and spectacular fireworks.

With showers a possibility on Saturday night when the fireworks display is planned, Aiello recommends visitors check the festival's Web site during the day to see if the fireworks will go off as planned at 10 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, Aiello said, and if mother nature still refuses to cooperate, the display will be moved to some other weekend this summer.
Rain or shine, the Fireworks Beach Blast will take place at SurfSide5 for those who've purchased tickets, Aiello said. If rain postpones the display, ticket holders are welcomed back on Sunday night free of charge to watch them light up the sky, she added.

With or without fireworks, however, the Sand and Sea Festival promises to bring back old memories and make new ones.

The Daily News
By Angeljean Chiaramida/Staff writer
Published: June 27, 2008