Ideas Happen 2004
Inspiring new beginnings
Visa is proud to support the creative spirit and boundless energy of our Ideas Happen winners. We believe that building a better community starts by helping people build their dreams. Our twelve outstanding innovators each received $25,000 from Visa to help them launch their ideas. We can hardly wait to see what they’ll do next.
Self-Expression
Keri F., NYSave Amusement Park History/Self-Expression
I want to create a book of photo essays, documenting the existing remains of the small, local amusement parks that used to exist in this country.
In the early 1900's, over 1500 amusement parks thrived. After the ravages of the Depression, only 400 remained. With the dawn of television, urban decay and the advent of larger, corporate amusement parks, more of these small "mom and pop" parks shut down. Few remain in business today.
As a child, I spent countless summer afternoons at Angela Park in Hazleton, PA. The park eventually closed but the husks of the rides and buildings remained. The derelict, ghost-like ambiance of the place coupled with my own personal memories of it, was what drew me, as a photographer, to the landscape.
I will contact local residents and historical associations to obtain photos of the parks when they were operational. I will examine the factors that drove the industry's initial success, and will explore the various causes of the industry's downturn, from economic reasons to changes in what our culture defines as "entertainment." I would use the $25,000 to cover travel, film, printing, production and distribution costs.
