Looking Back At West Michigan’s Waterpark Wonderland: Slide-a-way In Kalamazoo
There's one fun park that Kalamazoo had that so many people grew up going to. In my neck of the woods on the east side of Michigan was the legendary 4 Bears theme park, and this one may be just like that one.
It was the Slide-a-Way and it was located off D Avenue in Kalamazoo, and in an unearthed video which was posted by the son of the co-owner it shows just how fun it used to be before closing for good:
My father was co-owner back in the early 90's. Unfortunately, we're having trouble finding any pictures of the place while it was in operation. As big as the internet is, this is the only footage I could find when doing a web search. No video, no images, nothing. If anyone who happens upon this video (and this comment) has any memories of the place, I'd love to put together a slideshow of pictures for my father.
Here's the video which probably ran as a commercial on local television through the early 90s:
Sadly this was the last footage we have of the park grounds from back in 2016:
About 4 years ago, someone commented on this video that indicated that the land was for sale, and as far as we know it may still be for sale:
My dad owns this property now. He's had it excavated and had the old slides removed. It's been for sale for about 10 years now
For now, we will have to be happy we still have places nearby where kids can have fun, but places like this are a fleeting concept that only 80s and 90s kids can truly appreciate.