Keep your arms and legs inside the boat at all times
Marriott’s Great America opened in 1976 on America’s Bicentennial. It was designed by Hollywood director Randall Duell. Great America was a theme park with each part of the park telling a story. The six theme areas were:
- Yankee Harbor- a bustling, late 19th century New England seaport village
- Yukon Territory- a rugged mining town of the gold rush era
- The great Midwest Livestock Exposition and County Fair- an authentic, turn-of-the-century county fairground
- Orleans Place- a charming recreation of the famous New Orleans’ French Quarter, circa 1850
- Hometown Square- a quaint little American Town, lifted right out of the 1920’s
- Carousel Plaza- home to the 10 story double-decker Carousel named “Columbia”
Each theme area had its own unique costumes and buildings to match the era. I worked in Yankee Harbor which had one of the worst costumes which were a sailor costume with red knickers. I refused that and got to wear a chef costume instead.
I worked in a New England Seafood Restaurant called Captain Morgan’s. We served haddock, perch, shrimp, scallops, shrimp cocktail, New England clam chowder, corn on the cob, French fries, coleslaw, watermelon, and chocolate cream pies. For drinks we served beer, pop, ice tea, milk, and slush’s. I can still smell the aroma of the New England clam chowder all these years later. Outside the restaurant was a boardwalk or sometimes referred to as a dockside area to eat and watch the Yankee Clippers go by and hear on the load speaker to keep your arms and legs inside the boats at all time.
The restaurant no longer exist as Captain Morgan’s but now is called Angelo’s and it is an Italian restaurant. It still looks the same with the seafood decorations but the park basically has lost its theme. It has lost its rich heritage.
I have such fond memories of working at Marriott’s Great America such as working to midnight and then going over to visit my sister Sue who was a nurse at the Lost Parent’s School House. Sue would go to Kiosk popcorn stands and collect the popcorn that was made and had to be thrown out for the night. It was nice to visit her for I loved all the popcorn they always had. My mom and grandma would work at Dockside restaurant that sold hamburgers but my favorite was the chocolate cookie my mom would give me. Dockside as the name implies was in Yankee harbor which was also the territory my sister Sharon worked at in a store called Tradewinds. Tradewinds was an import shop. Historically, the trade winds were used by captains of sailing ships to cross the oceans for centuries to go back and forth from Europe to America.
My brother Jim worked at Jose’s Taco Cantina in the farmer’s market in the county fair. I loved the arcade room located in the county fair. There was a football game where there were just X’s and O’s for the players for the graphics were not there yet but you had a roller ball that you tried to spin as fast as possible to go down field. There were special parties for the employees twice a year where they closed off sections of the park and kept those sections open until two in the morning for the employees to party in. There were also premiere movies shown at the Pictorium which had a seven-story-high screen. I watched “My Bodyguard” and a star of the movie showed up to give his autograph who was Adam Baldwin.
Overall, it was an enjoyable experience to work at Great America. Below I have scanned in some pictures I have of Great America from postcards and a comic book.
