liberty land

liberty land was a theme park in memphis, tennessee that opened in 1976, on the bicentennial. it was a fun place for children and adults every summer. it has historical value because of the “zippin’ pippin”, the second oldest wooden roller coaster in the world. it was also elvis presley’s favorite ride. it had many rides that are roller coasters, spinning rides, and a ride called the “rebellion” that took you gradually up and up, then left you up there for nearly a minute not to know when they would drop you until you heard it click and thought it was going to break. that ride was the ultimate high. there was a ride called the “sea dragon” that swung front and back, getting higher and higher, and the “kamakazzee” that was like that only it flipped all the way upside down. the rides there were scarier than most other amus-m-nt parks like disney world because there weren’t so many kiddie rides. but they did have some kiddie rides, like a chu-chu train and a smaller version of the “sea dragon”. there was a metal roller coaster called the “revolution” that turned you upside down 3 times, the “tennesse tilt”, the “wipe out”, the “scrambler”, a log ride, a water slide ride, etc. there was also an arcade with “skee ball” and “wack-a-mole” that you could win prizes for. liberty land was the location for the mid-south fair every year. sadly, liberty land was announced it was closing in october 2005, and was sold in june 2006. the “zippin’ pippin” was sold for only $2,500 just because someone wanted one of the carts that elvis rode in for a museum. the only ride that hasn’t been sold yet is the grand carousel because they think it could sell for 1 million. there was a group trying to save liberty land, but memphis still sold it anyway because the city feels money and sports are more important than history, and because they want to make midtown safer. liberty land was a safe, clean place when it was first built but slowly became run down. still, the city thinks replacing it with a community park isn’t going to take the same downfall. now all that is left for the children are memories, and you will have to go to little rock, arkansas or chatanooga, tennesssee for the nearest amus-m-nt parks, and they will never compare to liberty land. memphis, how could you?
i was devastated once i heard liberty land was closing. i was raised on roller coasters and loved that place since i was 4. my whole family used to have fun there. the first time i rode the “revolution” was because my younger sister wasn’t scared and rode it before i did. once liberty land got all run down, my family didn’t go there quite as much, but i celebrated a few birthday parties there with my friends, and we even considered working a summer job there when we turned 16. by the age of 11 i had ridden every single ride in the park. i convinced my best friend to ride the “zippin’ pippin” with me when she was too scared to ride it, turning her on to a lot of other rides there. but now all i have are the memories of me, my dad, and my sister racing through the bubble machines at the entrance to the ferris wheel and riding to the top screaming, “faster faster!” with the joke that if we fell we would go “splat like a watermelon”. after my dad died in october, i just wanted to go back to liberty land one last time to feel those memories and break this dis-ssociative state of shock i’ve been in ever since. all i can say is: you can tear apart liberty land, you can sell the rides, you can destroy fun, but you can never tear apart, sell, or destroy our memories of the fun we already had!