Wayne0731

John, I wasn't born yet in WW2, but my father and mother were both from this area. My father was in the Navy, assigned to submarines. His name was Wayne Shearer. My mother's maiden name was Janet Koller. And from what she told me, she spent every waking moment at the Roller Rink at Rocky Springs....and from the pictures I saw of her when she was young...she was a looker...lol. Glad the people of Lancaster treated you so well...even today, for the most part, they still treat visitors well here...and in Lancaster, military people are still heroes. Thank you for your service. Wayne, Jr. PS, spent some time in the USAF myself...

I wanted to just add my two cents to the conversation about Rocky Springs. I grew up in Lancaster County, PA, and Rocky Springs was our local amusement park and we went there as often as we could. There was a smaller park, Maple Grove Amusement Park in Lancaster, and, of course, Hershey Park (it wasn't one word in those days...lol), but that was a longer drive. The Wild Cat Roller Coaster was the largest roller coaster on the East coast at that time...and it was fast. Just a metal bar across your lap was all that held you in, and the snap at the bottom of the first hill slammed your head against the back of the car. There weren't many safety regulations in those days... The Carousel was advertised as the largest in the world...and I understand it really was at that time. For a kid from Lancaster, this was the "BIG TIME". We always went to Rocky Springs on the 4th of July...there was a huge fireworks display there...the largest in the area...as well as all the other rides and amusements. There was a large dance hall at Rocky Springs...I don't know if it had another name, other than "the dance hall". The sides opened up so in the hot nights in July and August, people would ballroom dance and we watched them from the outside (I was just a little kid then). There was also a roller rink and a huge "penny arcade" Since the park was build right against the Conestoga River, there were all sorts of boat rides, from pedal boats to canoes...but my favorite were the "motorboat" rides. Up and down that section of the river with the wind blowing in your hair...that was a good time. Rocky Springs also had a swimming pool, although the largest swimming pool in the state was nearby at the Maple Grove Amusement Park. Today, the large corporate Theme parks have taken over the amusement park world...but at one time, Pennsylvania had the most amusement parks of any state in the US. And most of them were locally owned. While I still love the big parks of today, I gotta admit, back it the 50's...it was a good time to be a kid...