Cedar Point 'Band-Wagon' – May 1967

To close out the week, let's linger at Cedar Point one more day with this photo, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on May 29, 1967.

It's a real feel-good shot showing hundreds of high school musicians performing at Cedar Point along the midway. At the left hand side of the photo is the well-remembered Berardi's French Fries stand.

Here's another photo of it from a post I did back in 2009.

Looking at these photos sure makes me hungry for some of those famous Berardi's French Fries. And since I live in Vermilion, it's only a short drive down U. S. 6 to Berardi's in Huron!

By the way, the Berardi's advertising mascot seen on the Cedar Point stand sign lives on today. Here's the Berardi's Concessions logo (below), associated with its mobile food truck operations.

****

By the way, the Journal caption for the 1967 photo mentions McNamara's Band. It's a reference that many young-un's might not get. But your friendly, aging blogger does.

Fortunately, my father had a lot of old 78 records, and one of them was the Bing Crosby version of McNamara's Band.

Hey, that 78 might have been the most Irish thing we had in the house when I was growing up!

1960s Huron Frostop Drive-in Ads

May 26, 1961 newspaper ad

Many local Baby Boomers probably remember the Frostop Drive-in stand that used to be on U. S. 6 just a little bit east of where the highway crosses the Huron River.

The huge, rotating root beer mug really left an impression on me. Little did I know at the time that I was living in the tail end of the Golden Age of roadside architecture and signage.

Strangely enough, I really don't remember if we ever stopped there. We were always on the way to or from somewhere else, it seems – probably Cedar Point. (Besides, we were more likely to stop at the A&W Root Beer stand in Vermilion, which was closer to home.) But the iconic Frostop mug remains a childhood memory.

That well-known mug is nowhere to be found in the ad at left, however, that appeared in the Sandusky Register on May 26, 1961 announcing the impending opening of the drive-in.

Here's another Sandusky Register ad from a few years later; it ran on May 29, 1964. It's funny how root beer always tastes better in one of those frosted mugs.

I'm not really sure when the Frostop Drive-in closed in Huron. Its former location has been the home to Berardi's since 1979.

Courtesy Berardi's

For some history about the Frostop chain, visit the official website. And to find out what some of the old Frostop Drive-ins look like today, stop by the website of RoadsideArchitecture.com.

One last Cedar Point memory... Berardi's French Fries!

Summer is almost over, and soon Cedar Point will wrap up another season.

After all that blogging about Cedar Point back in June, I forgot to mention one of the best things about the place... delicious Berardi's French Fries! You could get them at Cedar Point from 1942 until 1978 at their stand.

After Cedar Point chased out all the mom-and-pop food vendors, the Berardi family opened up several restaurants in Erie County featuring their fries. My wife and I go to the one in Huron on US 6 right next to the bridge. To visit their website, click here.

Old timers will remember that before the restaurant became Berardi's, it was a root beer drive-in. To rekindle memories of that place, click here.