At Lagoon, a Utah-grown Amusement Park Where the Fun Never Ends

Nostalgia 

If your parents or grandparents visited Lagoon, there’s a good chance you will step onto a ride and feel the same stomach-dropping bliss as your relative. That’s because Lagoon’s meticulous maintenance crew keeps them safe. 

It originally opened in 1886 next to the Great Salt Lake with open-air dancing, roller skating and target shooting. It moved to Farmington in 1896 and served as a pleasure garden. Some rides from its early days are still in use. The Carousel debuted in 1918, though its 47 intricately hand-painted and hand-carved animals — horses, zebras, frogs in bow ties — were made by European-trained craftsmen even earlier, in 1893. According to an article in “Utah Preservation Magazine,” each animal took 40 to 60 hours to finish, and are currently valued at $5,000 to $86,000 each. Most carousel animals today are made of plastic, which are much easier to clean and maintain.

But Julie Freed, a spokeswoman for Lagoon and part of the family who owns it, says a child on the merry-go-round could be riding the same animal her grandmother rode. “We don’t really get rid of rides,” she says. “We like to keep the classics.”

The carousel was so prized, that when a fire in the 1950s eventually destroyed more than half of Lagoon, firefighters took up hoses and poured water on the ride to protect it. Scorch marks are still visible in the rafters. 

You might think you’re riding an antique when you step into your Lagoon Roller Coaster seat. But not to worry: The only original part of this nationally recognized ride designed by John A. Miller, the Thomas Edison of roller coasters, is the footprint and each drop and herky-jerky twist. The wood, tracks and technology are replaced as needed.

The Lagoon Coaster opened in 1921, with newspapers promising it would be as thrilling as an airplane ride but as safe as a rocking chair, according to the Lagoon History Project blog. Riders still love it: On a recent ride, as the train pulled into the station, people clapped. 

Lagoon’s appeal to visitors is “about tying in with the memories they had as a kid. People want to get a piece of their childhood back,” says Braden Miskin, who created Lagoon History Project, after visiting Lagoon as a child and working there as a landscaper. “They have memories of going there with their parents and grandparents, and great-grand parents they didn’t know about [visited too]. They all experienced the same place. It ties people together with their current family and past generations.”

Wild Wild West

If you head east toward the mountains, the buzz of the park fades away and you’ll find yourself walking among strutting peacocks. You’re in Pioneer Village, a collection of authentic 19th-century buildings that recreate life for early white settlers in Utah. Among the 42 buildings, moved from around the state into this 15-acre restoration, are a drunk tank, a print shop, chapel, co-op and shoe shop.

Be sure to hunt for the Sovereign Jewel, an antique stove blinged out in intricate nickel drapery and large gems. There are other unexpected finds: A telephone museum; a model train museum; a miniature hand-painted circus display among a collection of dolls from the 1800; a barn full of horse-drawn carriages (including a hearse); and a gun exhibit with weapons used in the Revolutionary and Civil wars. There are also two rides tucked away in the village, both good places to get wet.

“It’s our hidden gem,” Freed says. “It’s unique to Utah. It’s a great part of Utah’s history being able to see what [pioneers] came over with.”

Entertainment

The Beach Boys played here, and even included lyrics about Lagoon in their song “Salt Lake City.” 

“There's a park near the city, yeah
All the kids dig the Lagoon now
It's full of all kinds of girls
And rides and we'll be flyin' there soon now”

Video footage shows the Monkees riding the Roller Coaster. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole played at Lagoon, even though Black people were barred through city code from dancing or swimming at the park during the 1950s and early ‘60s. The Freeds, who operated the park but didn’t yet own it, helped overturn the ordinance and desegregated the park, putting Lagoon on the vanguard of civil rights in Utah. 

While the music venues have been replaced with rides, entertainment still reigns. Frightmares, which runs from mid-September through the beginning of November, includes eight haunted houses (some kid-friendly, some labeled “too scary”) and draws the park’s largest crowds of the season.

“We’re a family park run by a family made for families,” Freed says. “There’s something for everybody. We just want people to come make memories here.”