Hold on tight! 
“Always Cedar Point, a Memoir of the Midway” gives the reader an insider’s view of the operations of the world’s greatest amusement park, Cedar Point. From a summer as a 20-year old ride operator on the Frontier Lift to becoming the park’s general manager 35 years later, John Hildebrandt brings the reader inside the fascinating world of what it takes to market and operate a destination built for fun.
 Hildebrandt walked the midway every day for 40 seasons, talking to guests and employee. He collected a lifetime of stories. There is humor, history, disappointment, thrills, and excitement in his storytelling. And there are memorable people as well. Cedar Point truly is The Amazement Park.
The focus of the book is Hildebrandt’s relationship with the park’s most iconic attractions—its legendary collection of world class roller coasters—including Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Magnum, Maverick, Corkscrew, GateKeeper (to name just a few). As marketing vice president, it was Hildebrandt’s job to introduce these magnificent scream machines to the world. From how the coasters were named to thrilling first rides to the creation of memorable advertising campaigns, Hildebrandt gives the reader a unique perspective, including lessons learned.
“Always Cedar Point” is one of the best books yet written about life inside an amusement park. Part memoir, part history, part business brief, part autobiography, “Always Cedar Point” is also Hildebrandt’s love poem to a remarkable place, a nearly 150-year old amusement park and resort in Sandusky Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie.

Always Cedar Point: A Memoir of the Midway

Business & Money

Hildebrandt, H. John

Industries

Casa Flamingo LIterary Arts

For 150 years, people have come to rest, relax, and recharge in the area from Vermilion to Port Clinton, south to Milan, Bellevue, and Fremont, and north to Sandusky, Cedar Point, the Marblehead Peninsula, and the Lake Erie Islands. Lake Erie is the constant in this fascinating story, the natural resource that gives the region its character and charm. Quaint wineries, world-class roller coasters, amusement parks, water toboggans, indoor and outdoor water parks, lake steamers and jet boats, cottage communities, sportfishing, swimming, sailing, boating, camping, historical sites, caverns, museums, beaches, Civil War history, resort hotels, religious retreats, and natural wonders--Lake Erie's shores and islands have a rich tourism and recreation history.

Lake Erie's Shores and Islands (Images of America)

Arts & Photography

Hildebrandt, Marie

Photography & Video

Arcadia Publishing

Lake Erie's Shores and Islands

History

Americas

Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

"Mr. Visidi, you realize there is no credible account of a shark attack in the roughly 4,000 year-life of Lake Erie. There are no sharks in Lake Erie," pronounces Officer James Mylett of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Frankie Visidi has a slightly different point of view-that afternoon, his beloved black lab, Priscilla, was killed by a huge bull shark while they were swimming off his boat, anchored on Kelleys Island Shoal. Director of the Museum of Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio, and Master Gardener, Susan Massimino has been called in by her police chief cousin to help identify the flowers present at the murder scene of William Krupp, a prominent local farmer. Could the sudden presence of bull sharks (equally at home in fresh water or salt water) and the murder of Krupp be related? Author John Hildebrandt knows his beloved Lake Erie. His descriptions and reflections of life in what's known as the "western basin," ring true. In a 40 year-long career with Cedar Point, retiring as general manager, he saw the lake every day. He knows the history, the plant and animal life, the weather, and especially the people who choose to live here. At the center of the story is Paul Gutten, aka Z, a German-Swiss businessman who also directs an Eco-terrorist organization secretly funded by stolen Nazi gold, now hidden in a cave in Bavaria. Z is fascinated by sharks and believes their sudden presence in western Lake Erie will focus attention on Lake Erie and its many environmental problems. He secretly arranges for six adult bull sharks to be introduced to Lake Erie. The sharks, of course, will be sharks and they leave a trail of blood and death in and around the Lake Erie Islands. The standard refrain: "There are no sharks in Lake Erie" is stood on its head when several bull sharks attack a group of kayakers in plain view of tourists aboard the Jet Express ferry. The news goes world-wide. Z and Susan move quickly toward romance until Susan discovers evidence that Z may well be the killer of William Krupp? This story is constant action, moving from lake to farm and from Bavaria to Ohio. The characters are vivid and compelling. Sharks in Lake Erie is part thriller, part police procedural, part introduction to life on Lake Erie. In the end, the sharks call the shots.

Sharks in Lake Erie

Literature & Fiction

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