Whalom Park

It was a mix of 2 things. The Bowen family lost majority control and the person that bought majority control had little interest in operating a park. On top of that One of the family members loaned out a lot of money to an individual that then defaulted on that loan. That lack of cash on hand made it difficult to open and they couldn't get enough votes to take out a loan. So the park never operated for the 2000 season. The individual that has majority control of the park then felt it was easier to sell then to run the park.

2 early efforts to buy the park fell short the daughter owner attempted but got outbid at auction to a developer. There was then a push for the town to take the property by eminent domain and the town wouldn't go for it partially because not all of the land is in one town. The New Whalom Park, LLC was started first of to salvage artifacts with of a museum and to develop a park nearby. when the first developer canceled plans the group set sights on the property. The group was at IAAPA talking with banks when the town pus h a developer into the property and quickly green light The oversized condos you see today.

The New Whalom Park LLC was restructured as a COOP with a smaller goal of a local FEC and a Whalom museum. The group has large items like Coaster cars, ride tubs, and signs along with a large collation of smaller artifacts and posts cards. The group attends a number of local events with it's traveling museum and puts on a handful of fundraisers a year.

I'm happy to answer any of your questions and you can find into on the groups web site and the New Whalom Forums.

I vaguely remembered going to this park when I was really young. It was the first time I ever visited an amusement park. When I became much more interested with the amusement park world several years later, I wanted to go back. Unfortunately though, it was around the time Whalom Park was closing for good.

Not a total loss though, considering Knoebels park atmosphere felt very similar to Whalom park.

True there are some Simularities between Whalom and Knoebles but unfortunately most New Englanders will never experience the park. Locally the closest park to Whalom would be Quassy.

• Quassy Like Whalom Sits on a very small plot of land compared to other parks in this area.
  
• The parks name is related to the small lake it is built upon
• They are both Trolley parks.
  
• They both focused on simpler rides.
• Both parks have a simple layout with no real midway.

^Yes we missed out on Whalom. We started riding coasters in 1999 but didn't really get interested in the hobby until 2002/2003 and sadly, Whalom was already gone by then.

@depotrat thats a shame. the park has a lot of unique rides many local parks had opted to retire. The Comet was similar to Thunderbolt but was a bit more intense. It features a straight first drop along the front that was very steep and a lot of quick turns.

^Yes we missed a few other parks too. We missed Williams in PA and Pirates Fun Park in Salisbury MA. That is why we hurried to get to Conneaut Lake Park when it was struggling a few years ago. You never know when some of these traditional parks will suddenly close forever like Whalom, The Pavilion in Myrtle Beach and so many others.

Good point. In whaloms case no one new it was closing until it didn't open for the season. ACE's Preservation Conference was being planed for Whalom and Canobie Lake Park. The sudden closure pushed the event to Funtown

It has come to my attention that many out there are working off of old information regarding the New Whalom coop. yes in the past a full fledged park was considered. There was a opportunity to reopen the original park but a local government pushed through the condos. The Park idea floated around for a few years looking at various properties and weighed in development costs for those properties but nothing seemed to fit or were too far out. So the group took a step back and retooled. for the last 5+ years we have been operated a traveling museum adding more pieces every year. We attend local events and hold local fundraisers to primarily fund the museum.

The long term plan is to eventually develop an FEC. It would offer food, games, Rides and of course a Whalom museum. The museum would hold larger display pieces we have in storage such as 2 coaster cars, a bouncer car, Whalom Theater posters and more. The rides would be a mix of Whalom inspired attraction and rides form Whalom. Planed would be whalom's actual Ferris Wheel and 4 kiddie rides.

An easy way to help​

If your looking for a unique gift and want to support a good cause at the same time your don't need to look any further. The New Whalom Coop has two online stores with fun and unique gifts great for the whole family. From Holiday gifts like Ornaments to everyday gifts such as pillows, T-shirts, and much more.

Best of all a portion of your purchase will go to the New Whalom park efforts to grow our museum and the future development of a Family Entertainment center (FEC) in the North Central Mass area.

Find Clothing, home decor and much more at​

Redbubble.com/shop/Whalom+park​

Find Ornaments, Keychains, accessories, Clothing and more at​

Zazzle.com/newwhalom​

Whalom's last tweet shared out a few items bought from Whalom's Zazzle store

I had gone to Whalom as a kid, i really dont remember the park, sucks when any park closes their doors!

It dose Which is why so many locals miss it. The park itself can never truly be rebuilt. It's like the saying goes: "You can't go home again." even if it was rebuild as an exact replica it wouldn't have the lake next to it and the newly built comet would not be as rickety. All we can do is keep building up the museum, continue Fundraising, and keep moving forward.

One way to do that is small goes over big ones.

One small goal is to find a way to get 2 carousel horses. The person want to sell not really looking to relocated them when they move. Thing is they want all their investment back. They bought the horses for $5,000 each.