For me, summertime is synonymous with a trip to the amusement park. I took my twins to Wonderland Park when they were just 4 years old, a déjà vu experience that transported me be back 50 years.

As my kids climbed onto the fire engine ride, I realized that this was the very same ride I had loved when I was four years old. Amidst the other high-speed, high-tech amusements, the fire engines existed in sharp relief, harkening to a simpler time when children’s imagination required fewer bells and whistles. Not being an especially nostalgic person, I was nonetheless impressed by the staying power of this simple amusement. A line of enthusiastic children still waited for this ride, same as when I was a kid.

Last summer, I noticed someone working on the fire engines just before the park opened for business and felt compelled to let him know, “This ride is older than I am. I used to ride these engines when I was a kid. How do you keep them in such good shape?”

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