Set to air on May 26 on PBS affiliate WNIT in South Bend is a documentary about the Silver Beach Amusement Park, and we caught up with the film’s executive producer to learn more about the project. Paul Wasowski tells WSJM News he used to go to the amusement park as a child before it closed in 1971. Looking below the bluff these days, you’d never know what used to be there.
“I always thought, ‘Man, this would be a really great documentary to talk about the amusement park’ because there really aren’t any traces of the amusement park at all,” Wasowski said. “You’ve got the carousel that’s down there, but that’s not the original carousel. It’s built to spec of the original carousel, but it’s not the original one.”
He says the park was started in the late 1890s by a man who owned a boat business and his partner.
“They put together Silver Beach Real estate Amusement Company, and from there they started building cabins for people to come to Silver Beach just to stay, just for the beach itself, and from there it progressed into the amusement park itself.”
Wasowski says his documentary will focus on the culture that existed alongside the amusement park.
“That whole culture around it for the number of years it was going, and it changed throughout the year, and even things like how it survived the depression and World War I and World War II.”
Wasowski says music was a major draw in the early days as people flocked to dance at Shadowland Ballroom. The park grew to include a roller coaster, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, a waterslide, a penny arcade, and more. The park was closed in 1971 when crime became too difficult to manage. But that’s not going to be the focus of the film. He says it could be a whole series.
“I think that what people are going to hear about this park is going to blow them away, especially people who live there and may not know it even existed. That’s the crazy part about it. So I’m looking forward to doing that.”
The feature will air on WNIT on Thursday, May 26 at 8 p.m.
