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As Knoebels celebrates its centennial, the household behind the park explains why free admission stays on the coronary heart of its success.
The Fourth of July isn’t simply America’s 250th birthday.
It’s additionally the 100th anniversary of Knoebels Amusement Resort, the nation’s largest free-admission amusement park and certainly one of a couple of longstanding parks nonetheless within the palms of a single household.
Fourth-generation co-owner-operator and president Brian Knoebel remembers rising up within the Elysburg, Pennsylvania, park as a child within the Seventies.
“It really wasn’t all that busy,” he recalled. “I had a little red tractor or a big wheel, just like everybody else did, and I’d pull my little cousin around on a little wagon in the back. We’d play kickball in the middle of the park. In a 45-minute game of kickball, we would only have to stop twice to allow families to walk by.”
Rather a lot has modified since then, however right here’s what’s stayed the identical.
Yesteryear
“Knoebels is in a grove, in a valley where two creeks come together, where we got our start,” Brian mentioned.
According to the park’s website, his ancestors first acquired the tree-canopied farmland in 1828 and commenced welcoming visitors to a swimming gap there in 1890.
In 1926, Brian’s great-grandfather, Henry Knoebel, opened a pool that may mark the official begin of the household’s park. Crystal Pool was billed as “one of the largest and most sanitary pools in Central Pennsylvania,” in line with an outdated advert on the park’s web site.
Knoebels nonetheless has a Crystal Pool, amongst greater than 100 rides and points of interest which were added through the years.
Brian remembers a particular turning level in 1985. “We opened Phoenix and my dad flattened my kickball. Was simply too many individuals, we received too busy,” he mentioned. “We began shopping for extra rides, extra video games. We began to wish extra meals stands. That meant extra rubbish cans. That meant extra restrooms. Then I began to concentrate to the position of the rides, as a result of now we wanted to unfold the group out.”
Even because the park grew, the grove of bushes remained treasured.
“(Dad) would instill those old-school principles in my generation of: ‘We have to have a canopy of trees for our guests. Nobody wants to go to a park that’s a concrete jungle. They want shade and they want park benches and they want carousel music in the background,’” Brian mentioned. “And it’s just continued. It just blossomed.”
Today, tomorrow
Today, visitors can nonetheless chill out beneath bushes and hear to Knoebels’ century-old Grand Carousel.
“I challenge any park our size to have as many park benches as we do,” Brian mentioned. “(Some) parks take the benches away. Not us. We’re building more. We encourage you to sit, people watch. It’s OK if you want to bring food from home.”
There is no gate and no charges to enter or to park. Entertainment and attractions like the Bald Eagle Habitat, Kozmo’s Play Area and Mining Museum are additionally free to get pleasure from.
The park does promote meals and supply pay-as-you go rides and different experiences. Ticket books begin at $5 on-line for roughly two rides. Ride All Day tickets, protecting each experience besides Haunted Mansion, begin at $54 on-line.
Brian is aware of parks generate income after they cost for issues like entry. But, he mentioned: “It just truly goes to our core and it’s who we are. We found our niche. We’re that step back in time.”
Guests acknowledge how particular that’s. Knoebels was named America’s finest amusement and water park for 2026 in Tripadvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Awards, which relies on critiques. The park additionally got here in second on USA TODAY 10Best’s checklist of prime 10 theme parks, which relies on readers’ votes.
“Who would have thought that this little tract of land purchased for agricultural purposes would be getting so much national attention?” Brian mentioned.
As the park celebrates its 100th anniversary, he didn’t supply any predictions for the its subsequent century.
“We are a timeless hometown amusement resort,” he mentioned. “Let’s maintain going. Why, why cease now?”
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2026/07/03/knoebels-amusement-resort-100-years/89894790007/
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
