CatMama
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Monday, May 4, 2015 10:14:03 PM
Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for accepting me in to the forums of MCW, and for any help in the future. I've been trying to find the name, and pictures, of a certain ride, which I rode in 1965 - long time ago.

I was so certain it was called either the Jyro or Gyro, but in all my days and days of searching websites, all I find with that name is a small ground thing for one person, strapped in, going around in circles. This is not at all what I mean.

Bit of history - I rode this ride in 1965, at the Bay City, Michigan Centennial celebration, and I believe the Midway was set up at Veteran's Memorial Park in Bay City.

This ride scared the hell out of me (but I was only 5 then), but it was tall and fast. After looking over and over at websites/pictures of rides, I wonder if it was the Watkins Rampage Skywheel.

Can anyone tell me if a ride like the Rampage ever had the name of Jyro or Gyro? Also, if anybody remembers the Bay City Centennial in 1965 - possibly you could direct me to someone who was affiliated with the Midway show, who could tell me what rides they had at this time?

This all sounds so silly, I know, but I'm trying to find out/confirm some fun memories my sister and I had way back then - my sister is now in the last stages of MS, and I'm hoping to learn something to tell her.

My husband used to be a Carny with Skerbeck Bros. - Tony Swenski (Pole) - sorry to throw that out, but even Tony doesn't remember the ride I mean, so I'm sure hoping somebody can help me. Thanks again, so very much. Anybody's time who tries to help me is much appreciated.

Patti - CatMama
johnroach100
Tuesday, May 5, 2015 10:37:08 AM
Check out the last few seconds of this video and see if it's the ride you remember:



You might have to copy and paste the link.

CatMama
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Wednesday, May 6, 2015 8:57:13 PM
johnroach100, thank you so much - it looks like the ride I remember, I thought it was blue, which this one is, but know rides come in different colors, but oh my gosh, looks so much like it. Can you tell me the name of this ride, or where the picture was taken? I very much appreciate you helping me - thank you so much. Patti
johnroach100
Wednesday, May 6, 2015 9:52:59 PM
That was somewhere in Michigan, I think 1964. It was the last year we had the wrestling ape show so I was about 8. The ride was indeed called The Gyro. If I remember right, it was one of a kind and stayed broke down more than it ran when we were there. I have no idea who made it though.

Another member here, Skywheelrider, is from Michigan and knows a lot about Happyland I believe. You might send him a PM and ask about it.
CatMama
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Thursday, May 7, 2015 9:57:41 AM
Thanks so very, very much, Johnroach100!!!! To see in your last post that you remember the ride being called the Gyro - that makes me positive it's the same ride I remember - I am so thrilled that thanks to you, I've finally found it!! Just can't tell you how happy I am! My husband and I watched the video 5 times this morning - he says it looks dangerous and no lap bar (I seem to remember there being a chain that went across in front of the people). Tony says that wouldn't be allowed anymore.

Happyland Shows - they must have been a traveling carnival, vs. an amusement park? If this is so, then most likely they were the ones who played the Bay City Centennial, and that's the very exact Gyro I rode!

You wrote that the Gyro was one of a kind - seems like there would have been at least a few built, but probably not many or I could have found something about it before now. You also wrote you were about 8 then - were you just visiting the carnival or did your family work with them? (Just wondering how familiar you were with the ride - I'm just so fascinated to see it after all these years trying to find a picture of it!)

Can you tell me how I'd go about contacting Skywheelrider - do I just send a post here with his name in the subject line? I'm very new to this website and the forum.

Thanks again, so much! Patti
johnroach100
Thursday, May 7, 2015 11:22:24 PM
Happyland was a larger traveling carnival in Michigan. I don't remember much about it, I grew up on the road and in a way it was just another show. I remember they had the bubble bounce that's in the video, they weren't on most shows.

We were booked on with the ape show and my dad noticed there was no arcade. He wanted away from animals so he made arrangements to book an arcade on the next year but that fell through. We wound up with it on Key City Shows for a few years then hopscotched after that. I had an arcade from 1975 until the mid 90's, then got into games.

Skywheelrider is Chris Hurley. The easiest way to contact him is click members in the top right, search his username, and send him a PM.
CatMama
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Friday, May 8, 2015 8:34:52 AM
Thank you so much for all your help, and for telling me how to contact Skywheelrider - I'll do that.

I appreciate you sharing that video more than I can tell you - I've copied and pasted the link into an email to myself, so I can always get at it and look at it again, it just amazes me. Going to try to get it on a zip drive, too.

Still can't believe after all these years I am able to see the ride, and see it in action - more than I ever expected, and also will be able to share it with my sister who has MS. Thank you again, so much.
johnroach100
Monday, May 11, 2015 1:15:32 AM
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. We were only with the show a few weeks and I don't have any idea where it was in Michigan but I do remember the highways in Grand Rapids. Interstates were pretty new then and there were some impressive interchanges. Also, there were forests of "Christmas trees" up there. We have pine trees here. I know my dad used to say the payday from Battle Creek helped pay for the land I'm on now. Thank you, Kelloggs.

Today I asked my mom if she remembered what spots we played with Happyland and she used the feeble excuse of it being almost 50 years ago to claim she can't remember what they were. She's only 82 so I think she was faking it.

I'm sure there is a way for me to send you the video if you can't find a program to download it from YouTube.

I just did a search of the forums and found this:

Gemini Gyro

Height - 37 feet
Less than 40 foot frontage
Double "Cup" loading
T/M -w/hydraulic setup
Delivered to Happyland on June 10 in what I assume to be in 1966.
Built by Arrow Development, Mountain View California

Apparently 1966 is the wrong year. If you search "Happyland gyro, there are 3 pages of posts about it and Happyland.

As an aside, does anybody in your family remember a wrestling ape show there?
CatMama
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Monday, May 11, 2015 10:30:34 AM
Hi JohnRoach100,

I was really happy to see your new post, with lots more info on the Gyro - I found and read through the 3 pages of posts about it, too, and see there are a few different people who remember it - I'll probably try to contact the one who had the picture of it in the 1988 magazine, maybe he still has the picture and could post it. (No still picture will ever compare to your video, though). But I'd love to see any pics or info about it - the info you sent was very interesting. It doesn't sound like it was that tall, does it? I didn't remember it being super tall, but in the video it sure looked like it was.

I don't remember the wrestling ape show being at the Bay City Centennial in 1965, but then, I don't remember what other rides were there, either. From going over your posts again, maybe that was the year your family left Happyland, to have an arcade with a different show? You wrote that the video was 1964, and sounded like you left the next year, when I saw the Gyro.

The only family members I have left from back then are my Mom (she's 93 now, but in good health/good memory), and one sister. Surprisingly, neither remember much about the Centennial itself, so probably won't remember if there was an ape show with the Midway, but I will ask them both. They both remembered the Gyro (but not what it looked like) just because my other sister, who passed away years ago, was 11 then, and screaming the whole time that she was going to fall out. Probably what kept that ride strong in my memory all these years - Katy, the 11 year old sister, and I talked about it different times after we grew up, and the name Gyro always stayed with me. Wish I could ask Katy or my Dad about that time, but both are gone.

Yesterday I was with both my Mom and older sister, Barb, and was able to show them the video on my nephew's tablet - they both watched it a few times, and were interested in it - so thank you from them, too! I'll bet that cute little boy eating the watermelon is you!

Sounds like you remember the southwestern part of Michigan - Grand Rapids and Battle Creek - I'm not familiar with that part of the state, still live in Bay City, where the "thumb" meets the "mitt". I did see in one of those 3 pages of posts that Happyland played Midland every year, and Midland is only about 20 miles away. But our family must not have gone to Midland, because I know I only saw the Gyro one time in my life.

I have to go back and read all those posts again - somebody said Happyland had 3 Gyros (that can't be so - why would they?), maybe there were only 3 built - I sure never saw another one with any show. Probably the company that built it has long been out of business, too. Somebody else compared it to the Watkins Rampage, just like I did - that Rampage picture was the closest thing I could come to how I remembered the Gyro. Also very interesting to hear it is called the Gemini Gyro - I like that even better (Gemini - twins - two wheels?).

I really appreciate you saying you would be able to send me a the video if I can't get it downloaded - my husband is better with computer programs than I am, and I plan to ask him if he can get it on zip drive in the next few days - I'll let you know, but thank you ahead of time, too!

Sorry this is so long today - so many things I wanted to mention - and now just one more thing - do you have any idea where the Gyro might be today? Tony says there are carnival ride junkyards, but he was very vague, only knew of one in Texas (Gibtown??) I'm sure the poor old Gyro isn't traveling/running anymore. Do you know what they do with the rides when they junk them? Do they tear them apart, smash them like old cars? Sad to think about, but if I found out it was anywhere close by and still recognizable, I'd see if I could get permission to go in and take a picture - I know that's a very slim chance, but thought I'd ask if you had any idea where it could be. Thanks so much, again.

Patti
johnroach100
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 1:33:29 AM
I googled Arrow Development and there is an interesting Wikipedia article about them. I remember them from coasters but they built a lot of rides, mostly for parks. Oh, they made the Gemini coaster that's at Carowinds amusement park. It's two coaster set up in a mirror image. My daughter and I rode it about 1996.

There's not really a "ride graveyard" anywhere. Old rides suffer different fates, a lot of them turn into scrap metal like you said. Sometimes they sit in winterquarters and rust away. Hopefully somebody will know what finally happened to the Gyros that were out there.

Gibtown is Gibsonton, Florida. It's the only town in American with RSB, residential show business, zoning. We go to the IISF trade show every year. We always enjoy it, but it, like this forum, seems to decline every year. As you can see from the eight year old thread this used to be a much more active place. Once I posted a picture I found of two girls in a Super Loops and you could see a corner of the midway. Just a little bit. Within two hours, people had figured out the show, the spot, and the year the picture was taken. Now it would probably get a few views and no replies.

I'm pretty sure we didn't get near the UP when we were there. My parents were up that way in 1976 when I was working spots in Indiana and Illinois and they talked about how cool it got at night even in July and I don't remember anything like that. So we must have just caught a few spots in the southern part and went south.
CatMama
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Monday, May 18, 2015 9:26:15 PM
I wrote a reply, the whole thing went south, probably my computer. I'll try again very soon, and thanks so much for helping me.
CatMama
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Wednesday, September 7, 2016 7:19:17 PM
Hi, John,

I don't know if you'll remember me from May 2015, you helped me so much. I was looking for info on the Gyro ride, you sent me the link to your family's old movie pictures. I'm sorry I dropped out of sight for over a year, family issues, but I'm now trying to find out more about the Gemini Gyro, and have been reading over all of the posts - the ones between you and I, and the earlier ones on MCW. Again, I'm sorry I just never wrote again - I didn't mean to be rude.

I still have the link to your video with the Gyro at the end, in an email to myself, but haven't been able to get it into a permanent place - I hope YouTube never takes it down. Lately, I've been watching it again, I'm still just fascinated with that ride.

I don't know if you're even going to see this post - if you'll get any alerts that I wrote - not sure how this site works, but I wanted to write to you first. I am planning to write to the others (Skywheeler, Keith), maybe others, who you suggested might know some things about the Gyro. I would absolutely love to see the picture of it, in the Carousel magazine, July 1988, I think it was - I looked that up, but couldn't get anywhere.

I'm presently trying to sketch/draw/paint a picture of the Gemini Gyro, from the video you've posted. I've done cars and inanimate objects before, but never something moving like the Gyro!! I play the video, hit "pause", sketch a little, and keep going. Probably will end up a nightmare picture, but I'm trying.

Thought I'd send you a note to see if you'd even respond, after all this time - and I thank you again, so much, for all the help you've given me. God Bless you.

Patti
Keith
Thursday, September 29, 2016 10:49:28 PM
Here's the copy of the ad from "Carousel" magazine of the Arrow Gemini Gyro.
Keith attached the following image(s):
CatMama
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Friday, September 30, 2016 8:47:58 AM
Keith, thank you so very, very much for posting this!!! It's amazing to see it!! I don't think I ever would have gotten it any other way - I emailed the magazine twice, asking if I could buy the back issue, but they didn't even reply. I've already saved the image to "my pictures" on my computer, and think it'll really help me out with the drawing I'm trying to do. I also have a friend who wants to do a wood-burning of the Gyro for me. If either of these things ever get done, I'll share pics of them here. I appreciate having this image so much - you and johnroach100 have helped me more than I can say - you guys are great!