Celebrate historic Coney Island and enjoy live music, entertainment and history on Saturday, August 11, 2012, from 1pm - 6pm at the 2nd Annual History Day at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and the Coney Island History Project.
History Day festivities include live music by New York City's legendary Hungry March Band, Ragtime and Dixieland by the Banjo Rascals, and Benjamin Ickies and the Coney Island Screamers, who attack Golden Age Circus Music with a rock 'n' roll attitude. Plus the always amazing Lady Circus! The performances are free to the public and will be held at the Wonder Wheel, the Coney Island History Project and throughout Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.
On History Day, visitors can test their Coney Island smarts at the Coney Island Trivia Contest with historian and author Charles Denson. Prizes include ride passes for Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and souvenir postcards from the Coney Island History Project. If you have a Coney Island story to share, come and record your memories for the History Project's Oral History Archive. You may also schedule an in-person interview by emailing info@coneyislandhistory.org.
A new exhibit on the cultural history of Coney Island's bathhouses and the art of bathhouse key tags will open on History Day at the Coney Island History Project. There were once more than 50 bathhouses of all kinds lining the beach at Coney Island. A century ago bathhouses provided the only access to the beach and, for many, a home away from home. Now hardly anyone knows what a bathhouse is. The shorefront facilities were a popular cultural phenomenon, providing entertainment, lockers, changing rooms, showers, swim suit rentals, steam baths, massive salt water pools, athletic equipment, game courts, restaurants, and fenced wooden decks for nude sunbathing. This exhibit provides a history told in photographs, admission tickets, oral history, and the folk art of bathhouse key tags.
Additional free events on History Day include Deno's Draw-a-thon, where adults and children are invited to draw a picture of the landmark Wonder Wheel, which will be part of an online photo exhibit. Crayons and paper will be provided. Visitors who dress in 1920's garb get one free ride on the landmark Wonder Wheel, which first opened in 1920. Visitors are also invited to take their photos with old-timey cutouts at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and the Coney Island History Project's Steeplechase horse from the legendary ride that gave Steeplechase Park its name.
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