Having a wife that loves antique stores has led to many discoveries of my own. Late last year while meandering through such a store, I came across a piece of local history that I knew needed to be on my wall.
Truth be told, I saw this several years ago at another antique store down the street. I always meant to go back and buy it, but that store shut down before I could do it.
This plague honored an 11-year-old girl for coming up with the name for Lakeside’s Puppet Theatre.
She christened it “The Strings ‘N Things Fantasy Theatre.” That’s not a bad name, especially for an 11-year-old.
As an amateur historian of all things Roanoke Valley, I knew I needed more information about this newest piece of my collection.
The puppet theater was part of the renovations done at the park following the approximate $1.5 million dollars in damage caused by the massive flood of 1985.
Many people erroneously think the flood shut down Lakeside. That is not true.
The November flood certainly did a lot of damage, but the relatively new owners of Lakeside decided to try and make a go of running the decades-old park.
They put plenty of money into renovating and repairing the park. It was decided one of the additions would be a 175-seat puppet theater in the space where the old Fascination game had been played for years.
According to a Facebook post seeking more information about the theater, it was the brainchild of the late Howard Wilcox. Wilcox was hired in 1985 as Lakeside’s Entertainment director. It occupied the space of the old Fascination game.
But what would they call this No Name Theatre? That decision was left up to the children.
On March 23, 1986, Lakeside ran an ad asking children to submit their name suggestions.
“How would you like to get the VIP (Very Important Puppet-lover) treatment for a whole day at Lakeside Amusement Park? Just think up a name for Lakeside’s spectacular new marionette theatre. Grand opening is during Sneak Preview Easter Weekend March 29th and 30th.
One-hundred seventy-five lucky children under age 14 will win the day at Lakeside.
The grand prize winner also will be awarded an original Lakeside puppet, a season pass to Lakeside, and the honor of having a plaque with his or her name displayed in the theatre lobby for everyone to see.”
So now we most likely know where my plaque came from. According to the ad, this plaque most likely hung in the marionette theater. Or it might have been the one given to Wendy for winning the contest.
It was about six months before the name was reported in an article in the Roanoke Times on September 2, 1986.
“Wendy Peaks, 11, a sixth-grader at Cloverdale Elementary School won the “Name the Marionette Theatre” contest at Lakeside Amusement Park earlier this summer.
Wendy said she thought she was dreaming when a Lakeside representative phoned to tell her that her entry was judged best of 300 submitted by children 14 years of age and younger from eight states.
The winning name was “The Strings ’n Things Fantasy Theatre.”
In addition to a season pass to Lakeside, Wendy received an original puppet of Doodle the Duck and a plaque. Wendy and 175 other children who submitted the best names were treated to a free day at Lakeside and a puppet show in the newly named theater on Aug 25. She said the winning name “just popped into my mind” while visiting Lakeside on opening day on Easter weekend “I saw the puppets thought of the strings and how fantastic the show was It was a natural” she said.” -The Roanoke Times September 2, 1986.
Sadly, by the time that article was published, Lakeside’s fate was most likely sealed. It closed for good just about six weeks later.
I still wonder about the origin of my plaque. Did it hang on the wall of the “String ‘N Things Fantasy Theatre?” Or did it belong to an 11-year-old girl who no longer wanted it after she moved on to more mature things? It would be interesting to find out.
If you know anything about the “String ‘N Things Fantasy Theatre,” please leave a comment below.
