This past Wednesday I headed down to Stricker's Grove with my girlfriend. This is our third trip there, and the second time we attended the 4H fair. The only other time we went was last year during the Customer Appreciation Day. While the 4H fair is slightly more expensive and it doesn't have the freebe's that the other days do, it does offer almost non-existant waits for rides. We got to the park around 5pm which is when the rides opened. Off we went to Tornado. First thing I noticed was that two of the nine rows in the train (1-3 and 2-1) were not working. We took our seat in the very last row, and off we went. While I wouldn't even come close to calling this ride rough, it did have a touch of jack hammering at the bottom of the first drop in the very last row, which I don't remember it having last year. However, this was the only seat that I experienced it in. "The Cliff" still gives you that familiar jolt. We headed back to the station, but since there was no one in line, the train didn't even stop, and we went around for the second lap. Little did we know, that would pretty much happen all night. If there was no one in line, the ride cycle on the flats would pretty much keep on going.

There were a few other things that I had noticed throughout the day:

Tornado was receiving a new paint job slowely:

New sign stating that Stricker's is the home to 4-H:

Pirate Ship, their new ride for 2012, wasn't quite ready:

While I don't have pictures of either of these, the chaser lights on Tornado wern't chasing, and instead only had one bulb lit for about every ten. Also, a good amount of the lights on Tilt-a-Whirl were out.

Scrambler received a new paint job:

Tip Top had a couple of it's outer lights out. However after looking at pictures I took last year and the pictures on Stricker's website, the lights in the center of the ride had returned with a rainbow color, as opposed to the clear they are online, and the lack of lights all together in 2011.

Other then that, here are just a few other pictures from our night:

In the end, we had a great time, and can't wait to go back in the fall.

I love Stricker's. Thanks for sharing your night with us.

Thanks Terpy, I love Stricker's too. I'm amazed every trip just how much fun we have at this small park.

Great report! Boddah1994 and I were out that way buying fireworks when we stopped by on the 4th of July. Did they tame down their flying scooters?

Their Scooters didn't seem to be much different from last year.

I have to visit this small carnival place, I have heard many great reviews.

It's a lot more than a carnival.

What carnival has two wood coasters?

I cannot recommend Stricker's enough. Only three more days to visit this year!

Has Stricker's always been a private amusement park?

Yes. It used to be far more private. There was a time it had NO public days. If you wanted to ride the coaster, you had to call Ralph and beg nicely. If he liked you, you were in. If not, forget it.

One poster here rode the Tornado, alone, in March once.

Yes. It used to be far more private. There was a time it had NO public days. If you wanted to ride the coaster, you had to call Ralph and beg nicely. If he liked you, you were in. If not, forget it.

One poster here rode the Tornado, alone, in March once.

It looks like in the past few years they have really expanded from their old 2 day a year public days to the current 9 days (5 days are the 4H fair though).

Great pictures. I've always wanted to visit Stricker's.. We'll see about that.

That Electric Rainbow night picture is absolutely striking! Thanks so much for posting!

Thanks for sharing its an incredible place, did not know they were adding a pirate ship this year. Does anyone know where they bought it from? Glad they are expanding.

Yes great park, best corn on earth, great atmosphere!

From Americana/Lesourdesville Lake. Somewhere I read that they think it's probably the last ride that can be saved from it. The Pirate Ship itself was actually installed last year, but the line and the control booth weren't built until this year. By the looks of it, they still have a little bit to go, hopefully it'll be operational by October.

I hope to some day visit Strikers. It's far more difficult now that I live several hours away. Does anyone know if the C.P. Huntington replica is the same one Coney once owned?

Electric Rainbow does look awesome at night. Now if they'd just put all the panels back on it so it'd look equally awesome during the day. I keep wondering why they leave them all sitting in a pile under the ride like that though.

Looking forward to getting up there again next month!

Yea, I've wondered the past few times why the panels haven't been put back on.

An old picture from when it was at Americana:

http://americanalesourdsvillelake.shutterfly.com/pictures/54

I guess it might make ride maintenance slightly easier, but it looks so much better with the panels on it than with them sitting in a pile under the ride.

With the panels still being under the ride, especially after they moved the ride last year (or year before), I still think they might have the intention of installing them.

GOSH! I love Strickers Grove! I'm just so sad that I haven't been able to make it over there in a few years. It's a great little family park too! Thanks for the photos it really brought back memories!

Great photos! Although I dont know what strickters is... it looks like a cute place. I will reserch it.

Oh my god...I know what strickters grove is. I think it is that white roller coaster that is near ross (?). Im sorry I dont live in Cincinnati. So I dont know the area to well.... But I think that is where my mom&dad met. But wait....

One of my moms sisters (sharon) took my mom there. She intoduced one of her freinds (marty) to my mom. Marty was the best freind of my dad. So that is how my mom&dad met there. They got maried (2 yrs later?) not at strickters. Had 2 kids... and now guess what. 21 years later they got divorced (last may). WOW. I finally know...