Holyoke's Mountain Park doesn't look like much these days. A worn-out parking lot sprouts weeds next to a wide expanse of grass and dirt, and a solitary pavilion overlooks the scene. Bulldozers and construction vehicles dot the acreage. It used to be an amusement park, complete with roller coaster, fun house, and an impressive roster of musical entertainment. Once upon a time, the Valley's extensive network of trolleys went to the park, and a cable car took revellers from there to the nearby peak of Mount Tom, which held, before the Great Depression, an impressive summit house.
The park opened in 1895 and closed in 1987; it re-opens this weekend for two concerts thanks to the efforts of Eric Suher, impresario of Northampton-based Iron Horse Entertainment Group (which also owns the Iron Horse, The Calvin, Pearl Street and the Basement). Suher bought the property in 2006 for $1.6 million.
Suher's plans for the immediate future of Mountain Park are clear. "We hope to have a number of different functions that will be held here, and the longer-term plans are to bring this facility back so it can be enjoyed for other recreation and entertainment purposes," he said in a recent interview. "We hope down the road to be able to have a lot of weddings and a lot of other events. Right now, we're concentrating on [the concerts on] the 15th and 16th of August. And as for the future, we'll have a, hopefully have a better plan as we get through this season as to what we're going to do for next year. But we are looking forward to a full slate of concerts for next season."
Even with plans for a season of concerts, the costs of acquiring, opening and running the old park seem formidable. Suher has made a habit of creating profitable venues; how he approaches the Mountain Park venture ought to prove an interesting ride of its own. The park's storied past—it changed a great deal in its 92-year run—may prove a precursor to a future search for just the right way to keep Mountain Park alive.
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It's hard to find anyone who lived in the Valley a long time ago who doesn't wax nostalgic at the mention of Mountain Park. It's no stretch to say it was well-loved.
Attorney Gina Barry, a Holyoke native, shares the kind of story that's often heard in connection with the park: "The park was a safe place to grow up. While our parents danced the night away in the pavilion to the various local acts that performed at the park, my siblings and I explored every inch of the park. Mountain Park was full of legend for the local children—my favorite of which was the tale of 'dead man's curve,' which was the last, and very sharp, curve on the old wooden roller coaster. Imaginations reeled with thoughts of how that curve could have gotten that name. When Mountain Park closed, some of that wonder left our city."
Jay Ducharme, Holyoke Community College professor and author of a 2008 history book about Mountain Park (available at the Holyoke Merry-Go-Round, which proceeds from the book help support), looks fondly back at the Valley of the past, criss-crossed with trolley tracks, and sees it as a fine inspiration for the future.
"One thing that I find fascinating is that Eric Suher is recreating Mountain Park in exactly the way it started in 1895," Ducharme said in a recent interview. "When William Loomis built it, he created a picnic grove with live music. In 1897 he had a few rides there. But the primary attraction was the stage—music, acrobats, magic acts. There was always entertainment at the heart of Mountain Park."
The Park's origins were similar to that of many other places, according to Ducharme. "Mountain Park was a trolley park—there were literally thousands of them across the country. In order to maximize profit, the trolley companies would create something at the very end of the line."
Perhaps the beginning of the end came with the end of trolleys: "The park became a burial ground for the trolley system across the Pioneer Valley," Ducharme says. "All the trolleys were wheeled to Mountain Park, doused with kerosene and set ablaze in 1937."
Fifty years later in 1987, the park closed. "I think one of the reasons Mountain Park holds special fondness for people—across New England, not just in the Valley—was that it closed so suddenly," says Ducharme. "Nobody had a chance to say goodbye. I found out the last day the park was open that same night. Everybody was shocked. … Fortunately, people can see the vestiges of [the park] at the Holyoke Merry-Go-Round. It's still the only carousel in the nation that gets by with the support of ridership alone. That's how popular it is."
Ducharme, and likely many others, see Mountain Park—just the way it was—as the ideal use of the space. "Of course I'd like to see the old park back. I lived most of my life there," says Ducharme. "There is a need for a park at Mountain Park. I don't know how many families in this economic climate can afford to go to places like Six Flags … Mountain Park had free parking—you could set up a picnic lunch under the trees and not pay a cent. Mountain Park was never hurting for money. You could pay for individual rides or get a stamp and ride all day. That kind of park has a future in this economic climate."
Another common thread emerges when people talk about the old park. As Ducharme puts it, "The whole family could go up and have a good time, from grandma to the babies."
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Eric Suher has his share of fond Mountain Park memories, too. I asked him if some part of his desire to revive the park comes from being a Holyoke native.
"I mean of course, you know, I'm from Holyoke and grew up here, and Mountain Park has always been a very special place for all city residents," Suher said. "And it's a shame that both Mountain Park and Mount Tom have been shuttered for so many years, because not just Holyoke residents but people from throughout the area were able to enjoy the facilities here for a number of years. I mean, I grew up on Mount Tom skiing, and as kids, we spent many a day at Mountain Park where our parents used to drop us off here and pick us up at the end of the day, or the end of the night. …The current generation really has no idea what Mountain Park and, frankly, what Mount Tom meant to the area.
"This was a premiere performance venue when they were operating the amusement park. … Some of the biggest names in entertainment used to play here. And so it already has a certain cachet for that generation that grew up kind of in the '50s and '60s and '70s. And so we just hope to put it back on the map."
No matter the motivation behind reviving Mountain Park, the effort has run into some issues. The City of Holyoke and Suher appeared to be at odds over permitting, prompting local news coverage asking if the park would indeed be open for the Decemberists concert scheduled for Aug. 16. In the meantime, Suher and the city seem to have arrived at a comfortable detente—entertainment permits have been issued, and the Aug. 15 and 16 shows look to be a go.
Before that bump in the road, Suher's work at the Mountain Park site ran into environmental issues, resulting in a work-stop order in late 2008.
When asked what happened, Suher replied, "There were several things. The property is located within a National Heritage boundary and because of that, you have to go through the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife to get approvals for anything that might happen on the site. And so there was initially a little miscommunication."
"We had done all of our studies that were requested when I first bought the property," Suher continues. "We spent the first year-plus just doing all of the environmental studies and we submitted them to the office, and our understanding was that we didn't need a permit. Well, we really didn't need a permit, but we did need to file the endangered species permits—application, rather—and so that's what was done this past season, all of our application stuff was filed properly. That office has been extremely cooperative. The findings were such that they're allowing us to move forward and have signed off on what we're doing on the site.
"And the wetlands is a separate issue, separate from the national heritage. When we were doing some of the cleaning of all of the scrub brush and invasive species—there were some invasive vines that were strangling a lot of the nice trees and the growth. We were given approval to do work during the fall, and during that work, we did actually, and unfortunately, we did go into the—there's a border that you're supposed to maintain, a wetlands border—and one of the vehicles did cut across that border. …"
Suher continues: "Both of those [issues]—one was completely satisfied with the National Heritage and the approval letters to move forward and the Department of Environmental Protection is in the works now where that has been, they've approved our restoration plan, because we have to restore the areas that we, you know, drove across, and so that restoration plan has been approved by both the City of Holyoke Conservation Commission and the DEP."
Now that those issues have been dealt with, Suher says the upcoming concerts should go ahead. The shows are expected to take place a temporary stage, using a large lawn area as a natural amphitheater for seating. "The only thing I'm really worried about is the weather," Suher says. "As long as we have good weather, we'll have a great concert."
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From nearly anyone else in the Valley music scene, the Mountain Park project would seem an audacious roll of the dice, straight into the teeth of a crappy economy, in a state that, of late, is hemmorhaging population. With only one weekend of concerts scheduled and no permanent stage, it's too early to call Mountain Park a success to rival Suher's earlier accomplishments. But, bumpy road or no, Suher is making headway in reviving Mountain Park.
Suher hopes to use the park for a full season of concerts next year. That programming will, according to him, look much like that of the other IHEG properties: "It'll be consistent with what we've always done at the Iron Horse [Entertainment Group]," says Suher.
IHEG Marketing Director Jim Neill followed up with more: "This is a seasonal venue, much like the Pines was for us, but with a far higher capacity and no limit to what the programming can be. We obviously have existing relationships with talent agencies, and we'll be able to plumb their rosters more deeply. Mountain Park will represent the totality of tastes in Western Mass. and beyond."
There's the risk: are IHEG audiences and the Valley itself, in a tough economy, able to sustain one more large venue offering even that well-plumbed roster? How much IHEG will this market bear?
Suher and Neill give no hint of insecurity about the question. It's hard to argue with Suher's past successes.
A final question, one that Suher left largely unanswered: Is this also about casino gambling? Gov. Patrick has hardly made a stunning success of his attempt to legalize gambling in Massachusetts, but speculation about where potential future casinos might be located has long pegged Mountain Park as a possibility.
About that speculation, Suher says, "We're working on this [as an] entertainment, music venue and that's what we're concentrating on right now."
"There's been speculation about [Mountain Park as a casino locale] long before, long before I came on the picture," he continues. "You go back, all the way back to the late '80s, when Mr. [Peter] Picknelly [the late owner of Peter Pan bus lines] had an option on the property—with, I believe, Harrod's Entertainment or with Hilton Gaming—had an option on the property. So that speculation goes back 20 years. You know, 20 years, so…"
