Friday, April 14, 2017

Loading up the Lakeview Park Easter Basket – 1957

If there’s one photo that you can count on seeing almost every year in the Morning Journal and Chronicle-Telegram at Easter, it has to be the ceremonial placement of the large, concrete eggs in the iconic Lakeview Park Easter Basket.

It’s a tradition going back decades. I posted the 1958 edition back in 2011.

Here’s the photo (below) from 1957 as it appeared in the Lorain Journal on April 20th, the day before Easter. The caption reveals that David Shukait, the man who designed Lorain’s giant concrete easter baskets, had recently received a patent for the process he used to create them.

Joe Trifiletti and Charles Camera were the egg-bearers in the 1958 photo as well.

On the day after Easter 1957, the Journal published a photo of the crowd down at Lakeview Park.

MAIN ATTRACTION – The huge basket in Lakeview Park, as in other years,
was the main objective of Lorain’s Easter paraders yesterday. Traffic in the
vicinity of the park was slowed to a crawl as thousands gathered at the basket,
including many out of town and out of state visitors.
****
A lot of people took advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend to get their Easter photos early by the basket in Lakeview Park. I noticed a small crowd every time I drove by there on Saturday and Sunday.

I would guess that the Lakeview Park Easter Basket is probably Lorain’s most-loved landmark, at least by locals.

More beloved than the Lighthouse? I think so. Many residents old and new have an emotional connection to the basket due to the tradition of taking family photos in front of it. It’s a lovely ritual that seems to be growing in popularity again, year after year.

It just wouldn’t be Lorain without its giant Easter Basket. And that’s something the Shukait family can always be proud of.

Happy Easter!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Easter Basket reminds me of the better times for Lorain! My grandfather brought his family to Lorain in 1924. I remember my Aunt Jo telling me how beautiful they found Lorain to be (coming from McIntyre PA) and the joy of having Lakeview Park near by where they had to take a path through the woods to get there. I'm sure Lorain will see another glorious era!

Chuck S
Jackson MI

Lisa said...

Growing up in Elyria, I didn't notice the giant basket until 1975 or so when, as a teenager, I drove to Lakeview Beach to sun tan. I remember being in awe of it, but never knew the history, especially the photo-taking at Easter ritual for the locals. Also, I didn't know the eggs were cement. It really is a cool landmark.