Only mid-sized Midwestern cities experience a certain type of Saturday morning, where the air is still chilly but parking lots are packed by nine o’clock and a nearby Ferris wheel is spinning for the first time in months. On May 3rd, that was Green Bay. At the official opening of the season, Bay Beach Amusement Park welcomed visitors. They do it every time. For a city the size of Green Bay, there are about a million of them annually, which says something nearly incomprehensible to anyone who didn’t grow up close to a place like this.
From Oshkosh, Rob and Lisa Michno drove in. For years, their children have been enjoying the smaller attractions—gentle kid-friendly rides that they graduate from before anyone really notices. Those same children were big enough for more this spring. Rob remarked, “Now that they are a little bigger, they can go on more, so it’s fun,” while adopting the typical half-happy, half-exhausted stance that parents adopt at theme parks. It’s a minor detail, but it perfectly sums up what Bay Beach means in this region of Wisconsin: incremental joy, season after season, rather than spectacle or adrenaline.
A price change that has been in the works for more than 20 years is what made this opening feel different from previous ones. The last time Bay Beach changed the price of tickets was in 2003, when they went from 20 to 25 cents, a nickel. Ten of the park’s twenty-two rides will now require additional tickets, including an additional two for the Zippin Pippin, the park announced this spring. Notably, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are free days for the small children’s rides. The math had just caught up for a park that receives all of its funding from outside sources. In short, Superintendent Jason Arnoldi stated that the pricing structure had to keep the facility affordable for families who aren’t planning a Disney vacation anytime soon while also accounting for rising costs.
Days before the park opened, state inspectors were already touring the premises, inspecting everything from the Scrambler to the bumper cars to the Nebulaz, a ride that was only introduced in late September, a few weeks before the park closed for the winter, and hardly anyone had a chance to take a close look. That has an almost poignant quality. Only a small portion of the season’s visitors have experienced this brand-new ride, which is now making its full debut. The upgraded Bay Beast was also prepared; it was fifteen feet taller than the original. That opening was delayed by at least another week because the stairs of the large slide were still being replaced. These things take place. A park this old and well-maintained needs ongoing care.
The completion date of the all-inclusive playground on the west end is still unknown, but park officials suggested late May if all goes according to plan. When it opens, a train stop will be added in that direction, eventually creating a complete route from the playground to the main park. With the cool enthusiasm of someone who has been running this establishment long enough to understand that positive things take time and that Green Bay families will still come, Arnoldi described it.
When you stroll through a location like Bay Beach on opening weekend, you get the impression that something more subdued than entertainment is taking place. Families adjusting to a new season. Children realizing they’ve developed into larger rides. A park that raised its prices and somehow reinforced, rather than damaged, the goodwill it’s carried for generations. Not every story has to be one of a comeback. Sometimes it’s just a May Saturday morning when the Ferris wheel begins to spin once more.
