The old, ugly carousel building is now a picnic shelter.
I took a couple more sidetrips. It was taking a very long time to get to Indiana Beach, which was a bad thing since I had gotten off to such a late start to begin with. I started by entering Lafayette using a route which took me right past the Tippacanoe Plaza mall. I noticed that the shopping center across the street was cleverly called "Tyler Too Plaza." I also noticed that a carnival was set up in the mall parking lot. I stopped and had a look around, but it was nothing unusual or spectacular. Onward I went, heading down Main St. towards Columbiana Park.
I had last visited this park a few years ago. It's a city park which at the time featured a collection of kiddie rides including an Allan Herschell roller coaster, plus a few adult rides including a Scrambler, Tilt-A-Whirl, and miniature train. Well, they still have the train, an Allan Herschell Iron Horse. They also have the Scrambler, with a ridiculous 53" height requirement. And there are a few kiddie rides. Oh, and an ancient Turnpike Car ride with no center rail. But a number of old, scary-looking rides has disappeared completely. In their place, it appears that the city has erected a small waterpark...there is definitely a large waterslide and a lazy river in there, and I presume there is a pool in there someplace. I didn't go inside. I was actually a little disappointed. What they have done looks very nice and appears to be popular, and I guess that's what counts. The park has received upgrades to the playground equipment, and the small zoo appeared to be full of people. I had a look around, then drove up IN-25 to Logansport.
The old, ugly carousel building is now a picnic shelter. |
A number of years ago, I was making my first trip to Indiana Beach. I was driving through Logansport and I spotted a small sign pointing the way to "Riverside Park" and a Dentzel carousel. So I detoured down the side street and found a very nice little city park with a miniature train, mini golf course, and an ugly little pavilion containing an all-standing Dentzel carousel and a working ring machine. Nice machine, awful building. |
That changed a few years ago. A spectacular new climate-controlled pavilion was built and the carousel was fully restored. Now, the machine is beautiful, the building is gorgeous, and the ring machine is a nice bonus. It was a little low for me, but the approach speed is just about right and I managed to grab lots of rings. At the end of the ride, the attendant held out a canvas bucket for me to drop them into and somehow I managed to miss completely, flinging steel rings all over the floor. Whoops!
Rides on the Cass County Carousel are $0.50 each. And it's only about a 25-minute
drive from Indiana Beach on US-24.
Next: Indiana Beach, Monticello, Indiana
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
