You wouldn't realize it if you looked at the southwest corner of Week's park now, but not so long ago at all, it was the home of Funland. Many Wichita Falls residents have fond memories of this amusement park. I found this video on YouTube and it definitely shows some of those memories. In the about section, the poster says:

One of our favorite things my sisters and I loved to do as kids was go to Funland amusement park in Wichita Falls. My father shot quite a bit of Super 8 film in those days (1970-75) just before my parents divorce. I love watching these reels as these fragile strips of celluloid film are the only place where we still exist as a family. To preserve the memories...I recently digitized the footage and edited some of the content into this reel. There are some amazing examples of some old school amusement rides!

Funland closed down in 2000 and the owner, Ernie Baker,  moved it all to San Angelo. In an Amusement Business Magazine article about the move, Baker said, "It's all about location, and I didn't see any future in being located in Wichita Falls."  He noted that San Angelo was more of a tourist destination and said that in the Falls he was having a hard time competing against indoor, air-conditioned entertainment.

Unfortunately for Baker, Funland didn't seem to work out in San Angelo either. After only operating the park in San Angelo for two years, Baker ended up closing up again.

If you want to see a little bit more of Funland, watch this old music video from Bowling For Soup. It features some scenes in the park, and also in other places around town.

Do you have memories of Funland? Let us know in the comments section below.

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