That picture to the right brings back so many great memories of times spent riding a boat down the Detroit River to what was Southeast Michigan’s amusement park, Boblo Island. I can remember how much fun it was to wait on the docks to board that massive steamboat. The dreams and thoughts of what was going to happen and what adventures we would have danced through my head. Not to mention the smallness you felt as you would begin to walk the plank to board the boat realizing what an amazing time you were going to have as you traversed the river to get to the island. To me one of the best parts about the park was the boat ride there.

The boat had so many things to do. They had a concession stand, souvenir store, dancing area or you could just hang over the railing. I would spend a lot of my time hanging over the railing chatting with my friends and watching the water zip by below us. There was even a time when we were on our 6th grade Boblo Island class trip that I saw a girl a couple of decks below and so I started yelling down to her. We ended up meeting on one of the decks and spent the day together on the island. Yep, I had a Boblo Island romance.

There were also some really great memories of the amusement park. I loved when the boat docked there and everyone would pile off the boat and head down that long, covered walkway and off into the wonderland of Boblo. There were so many great adventures and rides that awaited. It was at Boblo that I found my love for roller coasters. They didn’t have the most spectacular roller coasters like Cedar Point, but the ones they had were pretty cool.

I can remember the first time I was going to go on the Rotor, which was a ride that spun around in a circle so fast that it would pin you up against the wall and then the floor would drop out from underneath you. I was really afraid to go on but my friends had talked me into doing and I didn’t want to seem like a coward, so I agreed. As we were standing there looking down at the people who were on it and waiting our turn, I noticed that one guy didn’t look so good. Sure enough as the ride came to a slow and he could free himself from the wall he hurled all over the floor. I guess that candied apple he had didn’t fully get down. 😉

I could go on and on about my memories of Boblo, but I won’t. So why don’t you leave some of your own and tell us what you remember from your trips to Boblo. To help refresh your memory here is a brochure from 1987 that has a map of the park.

Here is a video I found on YouTube that was a documentary someone did about the island recently. If you did not already know it is going to be turned into a marina resort community. I may ask my dad if he would mind taking me for a boat ride down to the island just for one last look before it is all completely gone.