SHOOTING STAR roller coaster LAKESIDE PARK Salem,Roanoke VA

When the Shooting Star roller coaster opened in 1968 it was billed as the world's fastest roller coaster as well as the largest in the USA.

Sadly, those good times came to an abrupt end when the park closed it's gates for the last time in October 1986.

The only surviving remnant of the Shooting Star is one of it's trains, which proudly rolls on the Swamp Fox coaster in Myrtle Beach, SC.

videographer: Clarence Hinze
music: In Memory of Elizabeth Reed by The Allman Brothers

Enjoy the ride!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Salem
• Roanoke
• VA
• Virginia
• Amusement
• Park
• Lakeside
• roller
• coaster
• defunct
• John
• Allen
• 1968
• 1986

[xFrShizzLEx]

I'm glad i got to ride it once in summer school. After they took it down they put up a parking lot ((just like the song goes)) and a Krogers.

[MrMSF7]

I grew up in Lynchburg and it was A BIG DEAL when we went to Lakeside.. This brought back a memory LOOOOOOONG burried...thank you

[2394040]

I heard about this place from a workmate in the early '70s. I live in the Asheville, NC area. The last time I was there was about 1975. I didn't know it had closed, but I'm not surprised. These mega-parks have killed off most all of the sane parks. But then you could go to Lakeside for the day, have a good time and still have money in your pocket at the end of the day, and not be totally exhausted. Change and improvement are rarely if ever synonymous.

[bargeraltamont]

Thanks for the memory... I lived in Roanoke from the late 70s till around 2005. Theres a strip mall in place of the park now..

[kwg1]

Great video ...thanks...I grew up in Roanoke and this is a great memory.

I have a peice of the track I scrounged when they bulldozed the Pavilion. Yes, by comparison to todays big theme parks it may seem lame to this generation but to us it was the "Kings Dominion" of it's time ... at least here in Roanoke.

Thanks again.

[tammy1472]

That looks boreing

[Noitpure]

The only rollercoaster I've ever been on. Awesome video. Makes me think back to my childhood days spent at Lakeside. Thanks!

[HattieLovesCattie]

@CustodianGuy Thats the one I never saw or heard of until I saw the clips here on YT.My Mother hated going to Norfolk but she did later in life.I was the kid with the odd mother.Where exactly was Ocean View Park?What is there now?There are parts of the Tidewater area I barely remember.

[CustodianGuy]

@HattieLovesCattie There was an amusement park in Norfolk called Ocean View Park. Long gone now. They filmed the movie Rollercoaster there and another movie named Death of Ocean View.

[HattieLovesCattie]

@CustodianGuy I grew up near Elizabeth City,about half hr from the NC/Va line,near Norfolk and Great Bridge.There was an amusement park near Va beach or something that I never even heard about.I only heard about Kings Dominion.