LEOMINSTER — How much would you be willing to pay to see a new version of Whalom Park?
Right now, that’s the big question, and one of the two obstacles the New Whalom Cooperative faces in bringing a little of the beloved amusement park back to life.
If 1,000 local residents managed to band together and invest $300 each, New Whalom Treasurer Mike Coutamarsh says the new park could be open within the year.
“It could even take as little as a couple months. It would just be a matter of contract negotiations for the lease,” Coutamarsh said of the organization’s current effort to secure a location.
A concentrated effort from locals isn’t far from what members of the New Whalom Cooperative are hoping for. Because it is a cooperative organization, the new park would be owned by consumers, each getting a stake in the project after paying a minimum $300 buy-in.
Aside from securing the $300,000 in funding needed to open, New Whalom also needs a site.
According to Cooperative President Scott Lanciani, New Whalom is in the process of acquiring a site in Leominster. Although unwilling to specify where, Lanciani did say the property consists of an existing facility large enough to fit what they’re hoping to have.
“(The site) has a lot of the equipment we’d need and they’re willing to lease the property, the building and the equipment to us,” said Lanciani. “I can’t get into much more detail other than to say it’s in Leominster. We’re in talks with them, but it’s positive.”
Lanciani admits New Whalom will never be able to completely replicate what the original park offered, but for the time being, it’s the next best thing.
The original Whalom Park had been in operation for more than a century in Lunenburg before it was closed in 2000, eventually being demolished in 2006 to make way for a condominium development.
Lanciani began researching how a new park could be created in 2008, then created the New Whalom Cooperative two years later.
After initial plans to rebuild an outdoor amusement park across the street from the original location fell through, New Whalom has since moved on to the possibility of creating an indoor family entertainment facility.
Despite being indoors and in a different community than the original park, New Whalom would seek to create what concept artist Andrew Probert calls the “Whalom illusion.”
Probert’s current vision for the family entertainment facility would be like a snap-shot of Whalom Park, circa 1970. Although indoors, the new park would be designed in a way that would make visitors feel like they’re outside on a summer night. They would navigate from one attraction to another, stopping at booths modeled after original buildings from the park. The illusion would be further aided by artificial landscaping, bird sounds and even wind.
“We would want it to have all the fun of being in the old park at night in order to recreate the old nostalgia of past date nights and family trips,” Probert said of the design.
If Probert’s idea sounds whimsical, it should come as no surprise. From 1987 to 1990 he had worked at Walt Disney Imagineering, prior to which he had served as a production designer on a variety of films and TV shows. His work included designing the spaceships used in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” creating the original Cylon robots for “Battlestar Gallactica,” and consulting on the design for the Delorean used in “Back to the Future.”
As a Disney Imagineer, Probert also helped design portions of Disneyland Paris and update portions of Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Probert moved to Massachusetts seven years ago, settling in Leominster, and approached Lanciani shortly after hearing about ideas of a new Whalom Park.
“I’m not a local, but I’ve been learning that it remains a very fond memory for people in the area,” Probert said.
Aside from games, concessions and a museum of original Whalom artifacts and memorabilia collected by members of the cooperative, New Whalom could also feature some of the park’s original rides.
Lanciani explained that he has been in contact with a Carlisle-based collector who owns three of the original Whalom Park kiddie rides, the Model-T Silver cars and the park’s train ride. The collector who owns these attractions asked to remain anonymous, but did say that several of the rides had been restored and that he would be willing to sell them to the New Whalom Cooperative.
In the case of the potential Leominster location, Lanciani said the cooperative would hope to put three of the rides outside the indoor facility, adding that they could potentially be fit inside.
As it stands now, the cooperative is only 10 members strong, with a goal of reaching a core number of 500 to 1,000 members. Prospective members can sign up through the cooperative’s website by paying the one-time $300 fee that contributes toward the $300,000 starting cost.
The original Whalom Park, which opened in 1893, was the 13th-oldest amusement park in the United States and the second-oldest trolley park in the world. After the 2006 demolition, the 30-acre property on which the park sat was converted into the Emerald Place at Whalom Lake townhome development.
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