FARMINGTON, Utah — A large crowd gathered outside the entrance of Lagoon’s Roller Coaster to help celebrate its 100th birthday celebration Thursday night.
“The roller coaster really is the heartbeat of Lagoon” said Julie Freed, spokesperson for Lagoon.
The amusement park recently put out a call for past guests to share their favorite memories.
Freed says they received over 300 responses, which will be placed in a time capsule near the roller coaster, along with a scroll guests of Lagoon signed on Thursday night.
Among the stories to be included is one of Blanche Whitaker, submitted by her grandson, Chadwick Greenhalgh of Farmington.
Blanche worked as a ticket taker at the Roller Coaster in 1937.
Chadwick wrote: “Back then the breaks to the coaster were operated by pulling a giant wooden lever to stop the cars. One evening the ride operator asked her to take over the brake while he went out for a smoke...when the car came flying into the station she put everything she had into the lever but the train just kept on rolling through. She used to finish the story with “well, those people got a free ride”.
Lagoon is still accepting stories to be added to the time capsule.
They can be emailed to: Rollercoaster@lagoonpark.com
