Ferocious winds damaged a historic music tower at a popular Westchester County amusement park this week leaving its innards exposed, according to officials.
Playland Park’s nearly 100-old-old tower lost swaths of stucco and underlying foam thanks to a storm that rattled the New York-metro area overnight into Tuesday, a social media post from park said.
The music tower was built in 1928 and was part of the county-owned park’s original construction. It was most recently restored about 20 years ago.
Much of the aging park has sorely needed upgrades easily in the tens of millions of dollars over the past several years, including fixing up the iconic Dragon Coaster earlier this year.
The county took book management of the park last year after an outside company, Standard Amusements, pulled out of its decades-long deal to run the waterfront spot, sparking a legal brawl.
Workers were seen removing debris from the ground around the tower on Tuesday, according to photos captured by The Journal News.
But the setback isn’t expected to slow Playland’s expected opening date, scheduled for May 23.
“We are assessing the Tower but there will be no delay or postponement of activities or operations during the upcoming 2026 season,” said Peter Tartaglia, the first deputy commissioner of the county’s parks department, according to the outlet.
He noted the tower is where music piped into the park was originally broadcast, but today tunes and announcements boom from a speaker system.
The area behind the tower is closed to cars and pedestrians until an assessment can take place, according to the county.
Read the full article here
