Exhibit Offers Return To Natatorium Park

Step into the Cheney Cowles Museum this Saturday and step back to a simpler time when “fun” meant a short trolley trip to a happy day plunging up and down a roller coaster track, plugging quarters into arcade games, swimming and stuffing yourself with popcorn and hot dogs.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the museum will hold the grand opening of its summer exhibition, “The Nat: Remembering Natatorium Park” - a tribute to the Spokane amusement park that entertained four generations of fun-loving visitors. Opening day promises “Nat-style” food and music, demonstrations of carousel horse carving and painting, and craft activities for the whole family.

Continuing through Aug. 31, the exhibition fills both the front and rear galleries with a handsome text-and-photo display of the park’s history punctuated with artifacts and

video footage. Text panels were hung a little higher up than usual in order to return grown-up readers to a child’s perspective. Fast readers should plan on an hour to see it all but if you want to savor every bit, count on a longer stay.

“We were trying to capture the feeling you’d have strolling through the park, including the sounds,” said project designer C.K. Anderson.

Audio shadows of kids’ laughter, merry-go-round music, water splashing and the “Chattanooga Choo-choo” song accompany you through static displays of bumper cars, a tilted rocket car and part of a scaled-down Burlington Northern train.

Anderson said some display items were found as far away as Salem, Ore. A collector ran into the bumper cars in Yakima, and a rocket ship was found in Nine Mile Falls.

Although the big toys are “hands off” for safety reasons, you are invited to put your hands on the arcade games in the Laughing Gallery. Museum docents in Nat-ty polo shirts will supply coins to activate several machines, including the Sex Appeal Gauge and the Grip Test. In the same space, feel free to record your remarks and doodles on the comments poster.

At the east end of the gallery, you may rest on park benches to watch a short video about the Jack Rabbit roller coaster ride, which historian Karen DeSeve remembers vividly from her grade school days.

“I was a school patrol girl in Othello in the fifth and sixth grades, and our treat for serving through those long, cold winters was a day at Natatorium Park in the late spring,” recalled DeSeve. “We were given a dollar’s worth of tickets, and I just sat on that Jack Rabbit and never got off it until the whole roll was gone!”

DeSeve’s more recent graduate school days put her on the track for a research project about the amusement park and led to production of the KSPS video documentary, “Remember When: Nat Park,” which airs in the rear gallery. When she completed her degree, DeSeve came to work in the archives of the Eastern Washington State Historical Society, which are housed in the CCM catacombs.

She said she’s delighted that children who’ve seen the video visit the archives for more information to use in their own school reports. “Some kids ask when the park is going to reopen, and I have to explain that it closed for good in the 1960s.

“The biggest surprise was how big the project became, and people’s enthusiasm for it. If anyone heard about what you were doing, they’d begin ‘Oh, I remember …’ and you were there until they finished!” laughed DeSeve. “It’s a topic full of nostalgia and happy memories for everybody - and there’s absolutely no end to the material.”

Part of her research involved visiting the park site, at the western terminus of Boone Avenue, with a metal detector, and she found spikes from the old trolley tracks.

“When the park was in its prime, there would be 50,000 people there on the Fourth of July - and they got there on the trolley. The trollies were running from downtown once a minute,” said DeSeve.

Riders disembarked to spend the whole day playing on the rides, picnicking, swimming and dancing to music by legends John Philip Sousa, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.

Previewing the exhibit brought back happy memories for longtime Spokane residents Ann and Terry Corrigan. “I really enjoyed the postcard display of the park,” said Ann. “I have a small collection of them myself, and my son has a pennant similar to this one,” she said, gesturing to a glass case containing Nat memorabilia.

Terry, her husband, recalled listening to the Stan Kenton band and smiled when he spoke about risking whiplash in the bumper cars. “TV is more entertaining and spellbinding for kids now than some of the rides,” he said. “It’s really sad.”

They take their grandchildren to ride the Nat Park carousel, now relocated to Riverfront Park. “When we take them there, they really enjoy it,” said Terry. “You wonder, though, would it be the same for kids today as it was then — with all the computers and CD technology.”

“But this show lets you think and remember,” Ann said. “People in Spokane will find this a real pleasure.”

MEMO: These sidebars appeared with the story: PREVIEW The Cheney Cowles Museum exhibit “The Nat: Remembering Natatorium Park” opens Saturday and continues through Aug. 31. The museum, 2316 W. First Ave., is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesdays; and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students, and children under 6 are free. Wednesdays are half price from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and free from 5-9 p.m.

NAT PARK CALENDAR Here is a schedule of events at Cheney Cowles Museum as part of the exhibit “The Nat: Remembering Natatorium Park.” Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exhibit opening/FamilyFest Saturday. Food, music, children’s craft activities, and carousel horse carving and painting demonstrations by Chuck Kaparich, Pete Conway and Bette Largent. Regular museum admission fee. Wednesday, July 16, 7:30 p.m. Tom McArthur, Mark Blumhagen and Karen DeSeve share the stories and history of Nat Park. Free. Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Nostalgia Day. Food, beer/ wine garden, and a classic/ nostalgic car show. Regular museum admission fee. A dance and performance by “Men in the Making” at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. July 18-20 and 24-26. Spokane Theatrical Company performs the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel” at the Met. Tickets at G&B Select-a-Seat, 325-SEAT. Wednesday, July 30, 7:30 p.m. Chuck Kaparich describes the nationwide amusement park craze. Free. Saturday, Aug. 2, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. FamilyFest Saturday at the museum and Carousel Day at Riverfront Park. Ride the STA streetcar between the museum and Riverfront Park. There will be food, music, children’s craft activities, and a drama featuring Scott Ringwelsky in the role of Nat Park’s carousel designer and carver, Charles Looff. Regular museum admission fee. Wednesday, Aug. 13, 7:30 p.m. Gerry Sperling tells of living at Nat Park. Free. Wednesday, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m. Paul Quam takes you on a “visit” to the inside of a carousel band organ. Free.