Russell Wintner, the proprietor and supervisor of the Memphis Kiddie Park, a treasured hidden gem in Brooklyn, died peacefully Monday at his home in Florida, according to his obituary. He was 70.
Wintner was born in Cleveland and labored as an industrial engineer with Proctor and Gamble in New York City, however returned home to hitch his father in working a regional chain of film theaters, his obituary states.
The Memphis Kiddie Park was one other household legacy Wintner was proud to hold on; the beloved landmark opened on the day he was born in 1952.
“I consider Kiddie Park my little brother, and it really is like a sibling to me,” Wintner mentioned final 12 months when News 5 profiled the park on its 70th anniversary. “The Kiddie Park and I were born on the same day.”
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The park, full of rides for teenagers, concession stands, an arcade and a mini-golf course, has turn out to be a ceremony of passage for generations of Northeast Ohio households.
“I’ll walk up, and they’ll say, ‘thank you very much for today.’ And I ask, ‘shouldn’t I be thanking you for coming?’” Wintner mentioned final 12 months. “They’ll say ‘No, you don’t understand. I came here when I was a little kid. I brought my children here, and now I’m bringing my grandchildren here.”
Like most businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been a struggle to find workers to keep Memphis Kiddie Park open. When Wintner reopened the park last summer, he wasn’t sure what the reception would be like.
“I think the thing that stands out in my memory last year was biting fingernails all winter, wondering if we opened and if we do welcome them or anybody come,” he said. “We were packed every day. I mean, it was just unbelievable.”
Wintner credited the park’s sustained success to providing a consistent experience to a specific audience — younger children.
“One of the things that has killed a lot of small parks like this is it’s really easy to get tempted to put in a big Ferris wheel or a giant slide,” he said in 2022. “Once you do that, you’re inviting older kids, teenagers and the whole environment just changes.”
While the park is smaller in scale than some of the other amusement parks in Ohio, one of the park’s 11 rides, the Little Dipper, has been recognized as the oldest continuously operating steel kiddie coaster in North America.
The park was also recognized by News 5 in 2021 as one of Cleveland’s 100 Hidden Gems.
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“We’re not a carnival. We don’t have the big splashy stuff. We are just a kid park and we’re consistent,” he mentioned. “I like to call ourselves the training wheels for Cedar Point. You get to the point where you’re eight years old and you’re ready to go to the big park.”
According to his obituary, Wintner operated the park repeatedly together with his spouse from his retirement in 2012 till his dying.
Funeral providers for Wintner will probably be held at Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz, 1985 S. Taylor Rd. in Cleveland Heights Friday, Jan. 27 at 12:00 p.m, his obituary states. Interment will comply with at Mayfield Cemetery, 2749 Mayfield Rd in Cleveland Heights.
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