Going green shouldn't kill the Fun Forest at Seattle Center
So what if it's tacky?
Seattle at times seems uncomfortable with pleasures and in denial about identity. As much as we try to go "world class," we get reminders there's Ballard in our blood.
Case in point: Seattle Center might be gearing up to erase the Fun Forest.
The center is making plans for the future, riding a new mandate to go green by creating more open space to serve the exploding downtown condo population. As outlined earlier by David Brewster, much of the discussion focuses on what to do about Center House (Food Circus for old timers) and Memorial Stadium, a dilapidated structure owned by the Seattle Public Schools. I like the concept, but not one aspect of all three options under study: take out the Fun Forest, a collection of carnival rides hard by Experience Music Project.
Politics around the center can be fierce, fought with short knives over the future of KeyArena or funding shortfalls at McCaw Hall. That's where you find passions and people with influence. Not so, evidently, with the Fun Forest. It's tempting to speculate that there's a little snobbery at work toward carny rides, the leisure equivalent of pink cotton candy in a town going soy. Perhaps there's a sense that the greased steel of the roller coaster clashes with Frank Gehry's titanium. But Seattle is a city where some still like mechanized fun. They want their thrill rides. They like the hydros and a weekend in August where Blue Angels scream across the sky.
I love Seattle Center and want to see it get even better, but not sanitized. There's certainly a logic to moving things around for efficiencies, new facilities, better sight lines and yes, more open space.
Seattle Center's great achievement since 1962 was finding a way to welcome everybody and achieving a balance of uses, elegant and tacky, blue hairs and the buzz cuts, heavy metal, and Wagner.
So don't kill the rides. Find a home for them. Not everybody likes opera or can afford pro basketball. Some people, especially people with young kids, enjoy the ferris wheel, bumper cars and the Orbiter. Sure, they're tacky. But once in a while, a corn dog tastes great.
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Comments:
Posted Wed, Apr 25, 2:24 p.m. inappropriate
I'm glad to see one of the cities "elite" still knows how to have fun: I'm a little amused by the growing chorus "long-time" residents who want to see the destruction of the fun forest as a way of "saving" the Center. As someone who has spent 40 of my 45 years in Seattle, I see the Fun Forest as a place as vital to the Center as the Science Center or the Space Needle. Roll your eyes if you want, but the Fun Forest has always been Seattle's little slice of Disneyland–an in-city amusement park that is always a special trip for me, regardless of how old I am. I smile at my memories of riding on the kiddie coaster even as I watch my daughter ride in the same cars I did.
Yes we have Enchanted Village–until the land becomes too valuable and the company that bought it from Six Flags decides to sell–and for those who are able to make the trip down I-5 there's always the Puyallup. But both of those cost more money than a trip down to the Center for an afternoon. And the rides are still a lot of fun.
I agree that it's time to bring down Memorial Stadium–especially in light of the fact that most Seattle High Schools now have access to regional athletic complexes to play football and soccer in. I think we need to do something to both the Monorail station and the Center House–which after all started its life as an armory. But another piece of Seattle's soul will be lost if the Fun Forest goes the way of the Woodland Park Carousel to appease a yuppie ideal of what a "city" park should look like.
Posted Wed, Apr 25, 2:50 p.m. inappropriate
Don't clearcut the fun forest: This is a favorite destination for me and the kids. They love it. It's fun watching them work up the courage to go on a new ride that was previously too intimidating.
If the place doesn't draw enough people, then spruce it up with newer rides and do a little marketing. Improve it, don't raze it.
P.S. I saw Jim Allchin with his kid there once, so I really don't think this is a class issue. Probably more about marketing and condition of the rides.
Posted Wed, Apr 25, 3:04 p.m. inappropriate
partially: Yes we should keep it. But it's underused, even on weekends in the summer.
I'd like to keep the best 50%, including some of my childhood favorites as well as the new yellow arm thing. Ditch the prize games along the west side.
Or, alternatively, replace the worst performers with a few new rides.
Posted Wed, Apr 25, 4:56 p.m. inappropriate
We need a Coney Island, not a Central Park: I completely agree with Casey that Seattle Center can be improved and open space expanded without tossing out key attractions that keep it's regional appeal broad-based. I worry too that trying to turn it into an amenity for the neighborhood risks yuppifying the place--the risk is already there with or without the Fun Forest as the surrounding neighborhoods gentrify. (I'll bet we start to see an increase in noise and traffic complaints after people have spent small fortunes to live next to a theme park, just like we saw wealthy suburbanites bitch when they moved to Carnation. The place smelled like cow dung. Well yes, it's a fricking dairy farm!). In addition to saving all or part of the Fun Forest, I think one park-like feature that could be added: a playground. I think about the simplicty of the tugboat at Bellevue Square, something kids can climb on while parents rest their tired feet. It's kid-friendly, and it's free and parents would be grateful to have another place where their kids can blow off some stream.
Posted Thu, Apr 26, 8:37 a.m. inappropriate
How about a skatepark?: Kids of all ages need a place to have fun. How about replacing the Seattle Center skatepark that was displaced by the Gates foundation? If Orcas Island can have a 20,000 square foot skatepark, why can't it happen in Seattle?
Posted Thu, Apr 26, 11:28 a.m. inappropriate
Plays Well With Others: Seattle is at a crossroads. As a local I remember and miss the Twin TeePees, Hat and Boots, and other fun architecture that have slowly and steadily slid from the silhouette of Seattle. The Fun Forest is certainly part of that sweet era in our town.
While I treasure the sentiment, I have to wonder if the Fun Forest is best way to preserve playtime in Seattle. Why not consider alternatives? As a theme park fan, I know there is no way that the Fun Forest can compete with the changing nature of the amusement industry. As ride junkies we might be better served to see Metro run a regular shuttle from the Seattle Center to Enchanted Village and Wild Waves.
In my opinion the Seattle Center should reflect the ideals and future of Seattle. Instead of holding onto the Fun Forest as a quaint artifact of the our sixties childhoods, the Seattle Center should give us chances to play well with others. Support the Arts. Ask teens and you know they crave a well lit and challenging skate park. Recognize our maritime heritage and install a Stuart Little inspired boat pond with a Seattle twist that can spur pride and stewardship in our local waterways. Continue to have the Seattle Center be a place for all ages.
Posted Fri, Apr 27, 5:44 p.m. inappropriate
The EMP Roller Coaster...: Imagine getting Gehry to design an EMP roller coaster that started from the Fun Forest, circled around the EMP, and then back. It'd be both the poor man's and the rich man's monorail!
And why not have a design compettition between Disney and Six Flags to come up with a small footprint Fun Forest that we'd all be proud of?
Or get Weyerhauser to sponsor the Fun Forest and come up with Forestry theme.
Posted Fri, Apr 27, 10:43 p.m. inappropriate
RE: Plays Well With Others: You're right on with the fact that kids today want skate parks.
That should be part of the design of any major overhaul of the Seattle Center.
On the other hand, small kids of all ages love amusement parks.
In a lot of ways the small scale of the Fun Forest is just right, even though dated, and run-down.
Posted Fri, Apr 27, 11:36 p.m. inappropriate
Please keep the Fun Forest!: Unfortunately, the ones who love the Fun Forest the most are the ones who have no say in the matter: kids. My kids *LOVE* the Fun Forest, and we've spent many happy hours there. They are thrilled to be on the rides. Sure, we love the Science Center and the Children's Theater and the other kid-oriented things in the Seattle Center, but that doesn't mean they _always_ want to do something "educational" or "beneficial" -- sometimes, they just want to ride around in circles on pretend spaceships, and I say, more power to them. The Fun Forest has been one of the key places in their lives, a place where they can revel in being a little kid. Please, keep the Fun Forest. It helps make the Seattle Center one of our favorite destinations.