Did anyone else see the season opening episode of American Pickers last night ??
Featured Sideshow Banners, a Mangels High Striker , Pinto Bros Fire Engine, Lusse Bumper Car, Bushkill Park.
A full one-third of the hourlong episode featured Bushkill Park, the old amusement park in Forks Township, NY that was dealt a knockout blow by Tropical Storm Ivan in 2004.
For pickers Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, he served as park tour guide, providing an introduction for them and a nostalgic walk down memory lane for anyone familiar with the old stomping ground.
Wolfe was blown away by what he found, specifically in some sideshow banners folded in one of the old buildings. The pickers paid $700 for the colorful but worn signs, which showed a monkey wrestling an anaconda, a fire-breathing man and a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Turns out it was a whooper of a deal. An appraiser in Manhattan placed the value of just one banner at $5,000 to $6,000.
The Banners were made by the O. Henry Tent & Awning Co. and appeared to be the work of sideshow sign artist Fred Johnson, a legend in his craft, the appraiser said.
Even before the appraisal, the pickers were thrilled with their find. They spoke breathlessly about the park and reverently for Fehnel's passion for it.
"These sideshow banners are amazing," Wolfe exclaimed. "I could not believe my eyes. I've seen stuff like this in books before, but I had never seen it in person."
Besides the unpolished gems found in the park, the pickers were enamored by the park's story -- a familiar one to folks in the Lehigh Valley.
As he led the crew into the funhouse, Fehnel described it as the oldest walk-through funhouse in the United States.
The episode offered glimpses of the old wooden slide inside, as well "The Whip," one of the old rides that delighted children for generations.
Opened in 1902, Bushkill Park prospered for decades before struggling in the latter part of the 20th century. By the 1980s, its heyday was gone. Fehnel purchased the place in 1990, when it still regularly hosted company picnics and kids' birthday parties.
Now a co-owner of the land, Fehnel and Sammy Baurkot still have visions of rebuilding and restoring the park to at least a piece of its former self. Flooding and financial difficulties have gotten in the way, though.
And it can only explain what happened next, in the show's kicker. The pickers returned to Bushkill Park after finding buyers for the banners. The pieces sold for a whopping $10,000 -- a $9,300 turnaround.
And Wolfe's and Fritz's consciences must have been tugging.
The show ended with the pickers returning to the banks of the Bushkill and splitting the haul with a surprised Fehnel. Fritz pulls a wad of bills from his pocket, $5,000 cash, and hands it to Fehnel, whose knees nearly buckle with the news.
"You guys are amazing," Fehnel says, embracing the two pickers. "People just don't do things like that. It never happens to me."