CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) – The Idora Park Experience in Canfield opens its doors once a year to show off artifacts from the once-beloved park. While they can’t bring guests in this year because of the pandemic, they are working hard to bring in additional items.

The Idora Park Experience opened for just two days last summer and more than 2,500 people came to visit. That’s why this year they decided not to open their doors.

“We weren’t happy that we couldn’t open, but we were also concerned about people’s health. We call this the Idora Park Experience because we want people to get in these things and actually experience them,” said Jim Amey, co-owner of the Idora Park Experience. “It was frustrating, but it is also a good thing because it gave me a lot of time to come up with ideas for new things to do.”

Jim and Toni Amey have been hard at work in their Canfield garage. They’ve been restoring and reinventing Idora Park artifacts. They’ve added several new pieces to their impressive collection and wanted to share what they’ve been working on.

Old favorites like Laffin Lea and Porky the Paper Eater are exact replicas of what was in the original park.

“I can’t keep it a secret. It’s hard for me to keep a secret. It’s fun to work on these things, and I want to share them with people because these things shouldn’t be hidden away,” Amey said. “It raises awareness about Idora Park. It keeps it in people’s minds and to see them, it gives them some anticipation for them to come out.”

The Idora Park Experience won’t open their doors again until next year, but the Ameys can’t wait to welcome everyone back.

“They get to see a video of it. But when they actually get to feed Porky Pig some trash and hear that original voice from Idora Park that they heard when they were a kid, I think that’s going to be gold. They are going to love that,” Amey said.

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