Boomerang

Opened: 1977

Location: North Midway

Manufactured By: JB?

Number Of Cars: 40

Ride Capacity: 80 (2 riders per car)

Height Requirement: 46" minimum

history & info

Boomerang is a classic bumper car ride. Control the car by turning the wheel all the way in one direction or the other or turn it slightly to go left or right. The cars are modeled after antique cars and are essentially the same in design except for color and the name on the grill (Ford, Opel or Benz).

Lagoon's first bumper car ride was the Dodgem in 1940. It's possible the Dodgem was located around where the Scamper junior bumper cars are today, closer to Lagoon Lake where most of the attractions were back then. The Autoskooter, a newer bumper car ride opened in 1966. Boomerang and Scamper both opened in 1977 and my guess is Scamper is in the former Autoskooter building. A new building was built for Boomerang replacing the short-lived Zugspitz ride.

This building is used for storage during the winter months along with many of the picnic terraces. The building is now painted green and white with red and yellow trim. Before it was painted in these colors around the late 1990's or so, it was dark brown and tan. On the tan parts, several paintings of different antique cars such as the Ford Model T or Pierce Arrow were featured along with the year, make and model written underneath. These were painted over, but in 2003, more generic looking pictures on oval pieces of wood were added in these spaces. The interior wall has been painted a few times as well. A landscape scene was painted there the same year or after the exterior became green. In 2002, oval pieces with cars painted on them (similar to those on the outside) were placed on the wall.

I haven't been able to figure out who manufactured this ride, but there is an emblem on the front of each car with the letters JB and something else that looks like German. It seems the cars used for Scamper were also made by this company.

photos

Photo: Braden Miskin

Exterior of the Boomerang building in October 2005.

Photo: Braden Miskin

SOURCES

Lagoon

Deseret News

Updated 16 Jan 2008