Whatever happened to …

… metal slides?

A piece of my kids’ childhood got dragged away this week.

Jaimie and I noticed it while out on our morning walk after the big rainfall. Long before we were part of Amherstburg, we lived in Anderdon Township and the township had its own park. You can see the tennis courts off to the left. The park itself had a number of play places for kids including this rather large metal slide. You’d climb the 10 or so steps and then go flying straight down.

Growing up, we had one like this at our school, in the community park, and at the drive-in movie theatre. They were great. You just flew down them and landed either on your feet to walk away or into this pit that ended up being created by kids landing on their feet or other body part.

I guess there were a couple of challenges – on a hot summer day, the slide got really hot but you could mitigate with water or sand and the other challenge was the speed with which you flew down the slide. It was great for the older kids and the younger ones would have mom or dad pick them up and plop them on the slide about half way up for safety purposes.

There were variations on this theme. Some of the fancier ones had a little level part to slow you down a bit on the way down. Another variation I remember at Boblo Island theme park where they had a huge slide with multiple lanes and you’d sit on something that resembled a burlap sack and you just flew!

I guess our slide’s days were numbered. These days, you’re more likely to see something plastic, in bright colours, with all kinds of twists and turns and very slow. They aren’t very high so really don’t attract all ages like the metals ones did.

Your thoughts for a Sunday …

• does your community have a classic metal slide or have they been replaced as well?
• does your community school have slides on site?
• have you ever injured yourself on a slide?
• on that theme, are you a head-first or feet-first type of person?
• what about playground surfaces? We grew up with pea stone and sand. These days, it’s most common to find some sort of rubberized surface. What’s it like in your world?
• if you’re still fortunate enough to have a drive-in movie theatre, how do kids pass the time before the show starts?

As always, I hope this sparks some memories and your willingness to share those memories. Please do so in the comments below.

If you have an idea for a future post, please reach out to me on Twitter (@dougpete) or drop off your thoughts in the Padlet created for this purpose.