Now called Lake El Paso, Mountain Shadow Lakes was the hot-spot in the El Paso area (that wasn't a water park per se) where all the entertainment and fun happened. Concerts, hot air balloon festivals and fireworks displays were all held at the lakes and drew a huge crowd, often times sparking the issue of why anyone in their right mind would spend hours waiting to get into a park that was outlandishly over crowded and had inadequate shade for the numbers of patrons. I guess it was the awesome factor of it all.
I was too young in the 1980's to go with my brother and sister to the lake. They would go with their friends and come back with sunburned stories of the days events, from barbecues and swimming, to the local who's who sightings they saw. Radio stations were almost always out there doing live appearances (often times using the lake telephone to make the connection to the studios) and would work the crowd into their loyal heat stroke victim listening minions. It was a smashing success.
Then it disappeared. Forgotten like Magic Landing became just a few years later.
I had (on several occasions) driven with Evelyn, Yolie and Lupe in my Cavalier out to that location and wondered about what was inside. Back in 2004, I grew adventurous and drove out there in the middle of the day and with brand new digital camera in hand, went inside and discovered the park still has water!
Well, I plan on heading out there today with my digital camera and a pen and paper. I am going to find the manager of the park (who I bumped into when I took the photos of the park) and sit him down and ask him all he knows of the history of the park up to that point.
Look for that update on my Mountain Shadow Lakes site soon.
1 comment:
I never got the chance to go to Mountain Shadow lakes. So what could you do at the lake?
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