By Scout Nicholson Jambar Contributor
The journey to The Idora Park Experience began 33 years ago, when Jim and Toni Amey set foot on the remains of Idora Park and collected their first relic.
Mahoning Valley Historical Society is now collaborating with the Ameys to create a museum in downtown Youngstown, that showcases over 1,000 artifacts from the defunct local amusement park.
Jim Amey was born and raised in Youngstown and is a former employee of Idora Park. He was employed during the summer of 1976, his senior year of high school, and operated the football throw game.
“I worked there for the whole summer, and then I left to go into the Air Force, and I just stayed away,” Jim Amey said. “It was magical, I mean, we didn’t make much money. We might have been making $1.30 [or] $1.35 an hour because, well, you got to go to Idora Park.”
When the Ameys returned to Idora in 1993, the remains shocked them. Toni Amey said it was overgrown, buildings were falling down and wild dogs were running around.
Jim Amey said he knew he had to take something from the site or else it would all disappear. He needed to preserve Idora’s history.
“There was a light fixture that was hanging down. It had just one screw, barely holding it down. [Toni] wouldn’t let me take the tables and chairs. So I said, ‘Look, this was my game, I’m taking that light fixture down,’” Jim Amey said.
The Ameys moved to Virginia and continued to collect smaller artifacts. It wasn’t until Toni said they “woke up in the American dream and it hit [them] upside the head” that they began to dream bigger and purchase a larger item.
Jim Amey described it as a turbulent journey. He frequently put advertisements in the paper to look for these Idora relics and got scammed on multiple occasions.
Eventually, the Ameys found a cart for each of the roller coasters, the Jackrabbit and Wildcat, which kickstarted their journey. People began contacting them about Idora relics, with the Ameys driving as far as Colorado for one of the carts.
When the Ameys moved back to Ohio, they built a large building to store their collection, and in spring 2014, they opened it to the public as The Idora Park Experience.
“People were so emotional about it. They’d stay here for hours telling their stories, crying,” Toni Amey said. “They started to show up with the prize that’s been in their mothers attic since they were 5 years old. And the bride doll they won when they were 8, and the game they bought at the auction.”
The Ameys eventually decided they needed a plan to preserve the collection in case anything happened to them, so they began contacting other organizations.
Eventually MVHS reached out and wanted the collection, but the Ameys said they had some conditions.
“We were pretty stubborn on some issues. Most significantly, they had to have a building to put it in,” Toni Amey said. “Most of the collection had to be on display at all times, so they couldn’t just go get a small little building and put some of the items. They had to truly have it dedicated, and it had to be interactive.”
The Idora Park Experience is planned for completion in 2028. The building will be located at 250 E. Federal St., and it will showcase the legacy of the Ameys and Idora Park.
“We don’t care about our name and lights as much as we want our family to look at it and say, ‘I get it. I see why it was so important to them. I see what they did and what it means,’” Toni Amey said. “It left some sort of imprint long after we’re gone, there’s something that says we were here.”