This July, a Crystal Beach vacationing family will be celebrating 100 years of enjoying the simple life every summer in their beloved little cottage. Five generations have witnessed a century of changes to this village in their summertime haven on Dovercourt Road that hasn’t changed much.

Did you know Ridgeway had a legend? I stumbled across a bizarre, surreal moment -- a Twilight Zone kind of experience -- when a friend, while discussing the lonely, random silos throughout town, souvenirs of a once farming community, grabbed her laptop as she mumbled the words, “Silo, I remember seeing something online.” She spun the laptop around to face me, revealing a heading, “Ridgeway Witch Prison Tower”, dated December 10, 2012. My first reaction was a quick laugh. But curiosity took over, accompanied by a slight and slow chill.

It started in the ’50s. Each Labour Day weekend was about waiting for that parade of decorated cars along Ridgeway Road, following it over the hill to witness the sending-off of “old man summer” with a burning casket, floating out, on Lake Erie. The parade, though changed to reflect modern times, has been resurrected over the years, thanks to The Friends of Crystal Beach. This year however, marks another anniversary to an ending. It’s been 30 years since “the park” wound up its last summer on Labour Day Weekend, 1989. And Crystal Beach Amusement Park went dark.