I love Old Orchard
Beach, Maine. Always a signal of summer’s arrival, a few
hours at Old Orchard just spins you right into summer mode. The vinegary pier fries, the fried dough
dusted (very liberally) with powdered sugar and cinnamon, the classic Lisa’s Pizza,
it all brings me back.
Growing up in southern Maine,
Old Orchard Beach
wasn’t as much a regular thing as you’d think, living only a few miles
away. For my family, with four kids, the
cost of the rides and the food made this a twice a summer – maybe – kind of
thing. As I got older and could drive or
had friends that could drive, it was where everyone went to “cruise” in the
summer. For many of us, as teens, it was
where we had summer jobs and summer friends.
For me, it was the place I had my first record store job and because of
that, the place I met my first husband.
Like everything else, things change. The town has had some rough times. But if this past Memorial Day weekend was any
indication, this summer won’t be remembered as such. It will be a good year for Old Orchard
Beach.
My daughter and I had a few hours to spare on Sunday of that
weekend. The weather was beautiful –
warm, sunny – kind of a surprise at the end of May. We decided to go “down the beach.” I wanted to get some photographs from the top
of the ferris wheel and my daughter just wanted to ride it. One of the great things about the amusement
park at Old Orchard Beach, called Palace Playland, is that you can buy just
enough tickets to ride one ride, or in our case, three. You don’t have to pay the big money for the
whole day. You don’t have to pay to get
in. You don’t have to pay if you don’t
ride. Easy. Good for parents with kids. If your kids are little and you’re not sure
if they’re going to even want to ride, you get just enough tickets to find
out. If your kids are old enough and can ride
by themselves, but still need some supervision, you can go and not pay for the
privilege of that experience.
So we rode the ferris wheel . . .
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| from the top of the ferris wheel |
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| looking west towards Saco |
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| looking east toward Scarborough |
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| Old Orchard Beach's main drag: Old Orchard Ave. |
And the “Superstar” – the scrambler ride you see at every
fair. And the little roller coaster, the
Galaxi – not sure why, since we’ve ridden the big ones at Busch Gardens, Six
Flags, and Cedar Point – but it’s been a while since we’ve had a roller coaster
ride, so why not? I’m not trying to
compare Palace Playland to any of those parks.
It’s a totally different thing.
It just felt good to be flung and lifted and dipped and spun after a
long winter.
We walked around a bit then up the street. Now I’ve seen the fried food options at some
of the big fairs – fried twinkies, friend snickers bars, heck, I even saw fried
butter and fried kool aid (don’t ask) last year. Interesting as they might be, I’m usually
watching what I eat and don’t want to part with six bucks for a fried twinkie
when that could buy me two boxes of them (not that I would).
But . . . we found fried oreos. And they were only $1.00 each. So we got three. Powdered them up and then took them to the
beach to eat. They looked like squashed
donut holes and when you bit into them, the cookie was warm and the creamy
center, melted.
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| fried, well, everything |
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| deep fried oreo cookies with powdered sugar |
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| creamy and melted on the inside . . this could be a new tradition |
Old Orchard is a nice little community. There are plenty of hotels, condos, shops and
restaurants to support the large influx of tourists that come during the
summer. Visitors come from Quebec and New England and from all over Maine.
Beyond the fried food, pizza, ice cream, and caramel corn .
.beyond the lights and the rides and the games is . . The Beach.
Go for the beach!
At low tide, the beach is flat and wide, great for running or
playing games. It’s clean and the sand
is soft and powdery east of the pier. Music
is playing from the beachfront bars.
Seagulls and terns dip in and out of the tide. Kids play in the sand. Groups of teen girls lay on their
towels. Families and couples set up for
the day with coolers and umbrellas.
A short walk away is a carousel ride and a slushie
drink. What could be better?
For travel information about Old Orchard Beach and the Maine Beaches check out these websites:
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