Crystal Beach is located along the shores of Lake Erie, south of Ridgeway and Fort Erie. Originally the town was the site of an Amusement Park. When the park first opened in 1888 it’s patrons arrived by steamboat from nearby Buffalo, New York.
The park was famous for a most intense rollercoaster for it’s day – The Crystal Beach Cyclone, built in 1927. A full time nurse at the unloading platform tended to nauseous and unconscious riders. The ride was closed in 1946 but many of the materials were used in the construction of the Crystal Beach Comet, another famous roller coaster with a slightly less intense ride.
Following the park's closing, the Comet was moved to Six Flags, The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom in Lake George, New York where it still operates today. The amusement park at Crystal Beach closed in 1989 due to high operating costs. The area where the Crystal Beach Tennis and Yacht Club, a private residential community stands is where the amusement park once stood.
In the early 1920’s Crystal Beach would be the home of a new dance pavilion. The Crystal Beach Ballroom housed a 3,500 sq metre maple floor that could hold up to 3,000 dancers at once.
The Ballroomt was so large that the orchestras and bands of the time performed on an octagonal stage dead center of the dance area.
Above the stage were eight curved-wood reflectors that directed the sound out toward the floor in order to have the music reach all areas.
Famous bands of that era to play Crystal Beach included Artie Shaw, Dorsey Brothers, Gene Krupa, Glen Miller, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, Les Brown, and Woodie Herman.
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Crystal Beach hosts the Crystal Beach Art Show
every year along the waterfront. |
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