Colorado's Oldest Amusement Park Closes for Winter on Labor Day

Off I-70 at Sheridan, past the used car lots and the storage units, there is a 150-foot tower covered in old lights that used to be the tallest building in Colorado. Most people blow right past it doing 65. And that tower, the Tower of Jewels, carried 5,000 bulbs when it went up in 1908. Tallest thing in the whole state at the time. Now it just sits there off the highway looking like something out of a dream you half remember.

That is Lakeside Amusement Park. And here is the part people miss. It is not just old. It is the last one of its kind in the entire country.

The last White City in America

Let me back up. May 30, 1908. A group led by Denver brewer Adolph Zang builds an amusement park on about 57 acres next to Lake Rhoda, which back then was called West Berkeley Lake. They lit the place with something like 100,000 electric bulbs, all done up in Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical style, and people started calling it the Coney Island of the West.

This was the White City movement. Grand, glowing, columns and towers everywhere, that whole turn-of-the-century idea that electric light was basically magic. Cities built these parks all over America.

They are all gone now. Every single one. Except this one.

Lakeside is the last White City-style park standing in the United States, and it is also the oldest amusement park in Colorado still running on its original ground. Same 57 acres. Same lake. Same tower. That is not a museum recreation. That is the actual thing, still turning the lights on 118 seasons later.

The Cyclone situation

So right behind that neon is the Cyclone, and this is the one that breaks my heart a little.

The Cyclone opened in 1940. Wooden coaster, designed by Edward A. Vettel, and it is the last coaster he ever designed that is still standing anywhere. Ninety feet tall. Twenty-eight hundred feet long. Hits 55 mph. And here is the wild part. It uses manually operated handbrakes. An actual human sitting there working the brakes by hand. You do not see that anymore.

The American Coaster Enthusiasts gave it Coaster Classic and Coaster Landmark status, which in the coaster world is a big deal.

But it has been closed since 2022. A rider hurt his wrist back in July 2021, state regulators ordered safety changes, and the Cyclone has sat quiet ever since. Now, the ACE folks reported some testing happening back in March 2026, which got everybody hopeful. But the park's own website still lists it as closed. So do not drive over there expecting to ride it. I mean it. Manage your expectations on that one.

The good news is there are still 36 attractions and five roller coasters running, so it is not like the place is empty.

Here is the clock you need to watch

This is the whole reason I am telling you this now.

Lakeside shuts down for the winter. It opened weekends only on May 15, went daily except Tuesdays starting June 5, and the posted schedule runs through Labor Day weekend with September 7, 2026 listed as a holiday operating day. And then that is it. Gates locked, lights off, park goes to sleep until next summer.

So the window to walk this place in 2026 is basically gone. Days, not weeks.

What it actually costs

And honestly the price is the sweetest part. This is not Elitch's money.

Unlimited rides in 2026 is $35 if you are over 48 inches,