Hilarity Hall

When I was real little we used to go to Fontaine Ferry Park in Louisville with my Mom & Dad. I thought it was the best place on earth. I only remember going once or twice but it was a really big thing in Louisville back in the 1960’s. If you’ve never heard about it you ought to look it up.

The fun house was always my favorite. It was scary and it was exciting. If you’ve ever seen the end of Grease you can get an idea of what the fun house was like. I always thought it was called The Fun House but it was actually called Hilarity Hall. There were two character statues that stood in front of Hilarity Hall and just laughed and laughed. They bent over laughing so hard. That is my favorite memory of Fontaine Ferry. The female character, “Sue”, reminded me so much of my grandmother. My grandmother had this most wonderful belly laugh I had ever heard. And she would laugh with her whole body. “Sam” was the male character but I didn’t pay much attention to him. He didn’t remind me of anyone. But Sue was my grandmother made over.

Going into Hilarity Hall was exciting but a little scary. The Mirror Maze (I’m not sure that’s what it was really called) scared me to death. I could not get out of there on my own. I don’t like corn mazes to this day because of that. I just knew that I was going to get lost in that mirror maze and never find my way out again. Mom got me out. The Barrel of Laughs scared me also. I didn’t think I’d be able to walk through the barrel without falling. Fortunately my dad was with me and he told me to look straight ahead, don’t look down. You could go through the Hall all you wanted while you were in there but if you went through that barrel to get out you were done. You could not go back in that barrel.

Another thing I loved at Fontaine Ferry Park was the bumper cars. They were under a pavilion. I was not allowed to drive one because I was too little. But I could ride one with my dad. They had you wear these seat belts which were only straps across our shoulders. I don’t think they would have protected us at all. I absolutely loved it. I did not like the fact that some people intentionally bumped into us over and over again. I thought the purpose was to go around the bumper rink and if you bumped into someone that was the fun of it. I hated too when people would bundle up in an area and then no one could move. But the part I hated the most was when the ride stopped. I loved the bumper cars. Maybe it was because I was riding them with my dad.

There was also a dancing pavilion at Fontaine Ferry Park. I don’t know if Mom and Dad went there to dance but I’m sure they did. They loved to dance and they would go anywhere that they could. We never stayed for the dancing but I’m sure that Mom and Dad came back quite a bit to dance. They also had a theater that was used for music acts and such. In some of the history I saw that Frank Sinatra had played there. That was not anything we would have done at my age but it seemed to be very popular.

I think the reason I was thinking about Fontaine Ferry Park was because of my memories of my grandmother, my mom and dad. If it hadn’t been for those memories that place would have gone the way in my mind the way it actually did. It is no longer there at all. But it will live on in my memories, as will a lot of other experiences I had in my life.