Fire at Conneaut Lake Park...

This poor park can't have anything go right for it.

Conneaut Lake Park (just south of Erie, PA) wasn't even able to open last year. Enough money couldn't be raised to start the season. And now...

Earlier today, a fire completely destroyed the park's Dreamland Ballroom. This was the area where indoor events would take place. Attached to the ballroom was part of the midway attractions (now gone). And just behind the ballroom is a storage area for rides.

As it turns out, some of the ride motors, parts, and maintenance equipment were lost in the fire. To make matters even worse, a park spokesperson says there was no fire insurance on the building.

The Meadville Tribune has been following the story and has a slideshow of the fire's damage. And Erie's WICU-TV has some video.

I hope the park can recover from this. With nearby Geauga Lake gone, that leaves only Conneaut Lake and Waldameer parks for the area.

Conneaut Lake Park is incredibly small, but has some amazing rides. It's well worth the two hour drive to get there (from Buffalo).

The Blue Streak (originally built in 1938) is one of the scariest looking wooden roller coasters I've ever been on. And they've been using the roller coaster's original trains the past few years, making for an even more exciting (and fun) ride.

And then there's the Devil's Den - a classic ride-through haunted house. You don't find these too often and this one is done well. I guarantee you'll love this so much, you'll want to ride more than just once.

And my personal favorite - the Flying Scooters. You can individually control the cars on this ride by moving the rudder. This can make for either a very tame ride or an extremely scary ride. Obviously, I'm all about flying crazy - don't ever get in the car behind me if you're nervous about this ride.

There's also great food, a few more rides, waterslides, a free beach, and free park admission (you pay per ride or buy an all day wristband). Visit the park's website and see what's there.

I missed out going to the park the final weekend it was fully open due to the October Surprise Storm a year and a half ago. I sure hope that wasn't my last chance to go.

Hopefully, we'll all get to visit this 116-year old park this year (if it opens)...