SANDUSKY — Approach Cedar Point from the peninsula’s beach or boardwalk, and you’ll witness something you won’t see at any other admissions gate: three senior ladies cheerfully scanning tickets and greeting guests, eager to take the time to make each person’s day special.
Sally Shenberger, 86, Sue Link, 86, and Virginia Neuman, 82, have been working together at Cedar Point’s WindSeeker Gate for more than 20 years.
The three women — other associates often call them the Beach Gate Ladies or the Golden Girls — each came to Cedar Point after retirement. Mrs. Link was a Catholic school nurse, Ms. Shenberger worked at Fanny Farmer Candy in Norwalk for 23 years, and Ms. Neuman had several previous places of employment.
When Ms. Neuman was asked what she would do after she retired, she recalled that she had a ready answer: She’d be at Cedar Point, where she’d always wanted to work. After applying to the park’s admissions team, she was placed at the beach gate, same as Mrs. Link, who had wanted to get away from nursing.
They’ve been there the 21 years since, joining Ms. Shenberger, who has spent 27 years at the beach gate and is now a supervisor of their location, in “enjoying the lake.”
“Cedar Point is a good place to work,” Ms. Neuman said. “It’s a good retirement job.”
Mrs. Link’s path to becoming a Cedar Point associate was a more personal affair.
“For me, it’s a family thing,” Mrs. Link said. “My father worked here. My siblings worked here. I’ve had many nieces and nephews [work here]; I have a niece that still works here now.”
When she was a little girl, Mrs. Link’s family would take the G.A. Boeckling ferry from Sandusky to the park to see her father. She vividly remembers her mother telling one of the kids to run to the phone and call the ferry captain to hold the boat for them when they ran late.
“And by golly, he would do that!” Mrs. Link said with a laugh. “So, I feel like I’m filling in for them, all of them that have worked here in the past. I’m just proud. I think they’re all smiling on me; I hope.”
One of those smiling people would be Mrs. Link’s great-uncle, George Arthur Boeckling himself, the namesake of the ferry who brought Cedar Point out of financial difficulty in the early 20th century and set it on the path to become the nationally recognized park it is today.
But a lifetime at the park doesn’t make Cedar Point stale: quite the opposite.
“I have memories that go way back of what was here, what it has become, which is a beautiful park, and how it’s known all over the world,” Mrs. Link said. “And we get people in through our gate from all over the world. It’s just exciting, it really is.”
Despite their reputation as a trio, none of the ladies knew each other before they started. The three hit it off immediately.
“[Our friendship] always was —” Ms. Neuman started, before Mrs. Link chimed in finish her sentence “ — right from the beginning.”
“We didn’t know one another, and we’ve become really good friends — protective of each other, concerned about each other,” Mrs. Link continued. “We enjoy each other all season.”
“I’m from New London,” Ms. Shenberger said, referencing the hour-long commute she drives in each direction every shift. “And the other two are from Sandusky. And I never would have known either one of them without enjoying them here.”
Ms. Neuman recounted the secret of their success as co-workers and friends: “We all have the same work ethic. And we have the same attitude toward our guests: that they are special, and we are there for them. That’s why we work together.”
Twenty-one years — 27, in Ms. Shenberger’s case — is a long time to work in one place, especially when that job is seasonal and requires you to be outdoors for hours at a time. But all three enjoy their work.
“I love all the people,” Ms. Shenberger said. “I live alone, so it’s nice to get out and enjoy families; especially with this gate, we get a lot of families with the hotel. … A lot of people know us because we’ve been at the same place for all these years. And that’s what keeps me coming back, is just being able to say, good morning or hello or whatever. Everybody. Whether they know us or not, we are friendly with them.”
“It’s just been perfect,” Mrs. Link said. “We’ve enjoyed the guests, and the guests enjoy us, which is really great. And when they see us, and they come in, and go, ‘Oh you’re still here!’ They look for us every year. So that’s a fun thing.”
The comparatively slower pace of the WindSeeker Gate appeals to all three ladies: While they get busy, they’re still able to take time out of their day to spend time with guests, especially children.
“We have time to fuss over the children and have time to joke with the people and tease them a little bit to make their day special, to start it out right,” Ms. Neuman said.
“We’re busy sometimes,” Ms. Shenberger said. “But when we’re not, we make sure that we enjoy the people and in turn they enjoy us.”
Guests aren’t the only ones who benefit from their steadfast presence.
“Those three ladies really epitomize what we are about, and we couldn’t be more happy to have them on our team,” said Tony Clark, Cedar Point’s director of communications. “We’re happy they can come back every year. They love to serve our guests. They love to serve each other. They have compassion, they have care, they have a sense of humor. They know that this is the place people go for fun, and they’re having fun on the job too.”
Cedar Point recently announced it would be remodeling the area around the beach to add a new themed area called The Boardwalk, shaking things up for the three ladies. The Boardwalk will reimagine the area around the beach, boardwalk, and the WindSeeker to include a new roller coaster, entertainment and dining space, and fair-style rides that will harken back to the classic early 19th century resort images of Cedar Point you might see colorized in postcards.
“The Boardwalk project is something that we’ve wanted to do for a very long time, because our history goes back to 1870, which was a beach and boardwalk with dancing. And that’s where people spent their summers,” Mr. Clark said. “And this is a modern day take on what we think it might have been like.”
Ms. Neuman’s face lit up at the prospect of the renovations. “I want to be part of the new building,” she said. “I just want to know that I was part of that, [that] I was there with. It’s exciting.”
As the associates who usher resort and beach guests into the main park, Ms. Shenberger, Mrs. Link, and Ms. Neuman are due to be some of the most affected by these changes. Despite this, they’re approaching the remodel with excitement, not a hint of hesitation between them. All three are already vowing to come back for another year.
“I’m looking to see, to have a lot more people coming through our gate,” Ms. Shenberger said. “Whatever they have coming up, I’m anxious to see it. That’s why I’ll be back.”
Ms. Shenberger looks forward to the boardwalk because she believes it will mark a return to Cedar Point’s focus on family-friendly rides and entertainment.
“When I first came here, we had the dolphins, and that was so nice,” Ms. Shenberger said. “It was a very nice family-oriented show. And now I believe that the boardwalk as it will be, it will be more family-oriented rides on that boardwalk.”
No matter what changes Cedar Point dreams up, the trio have always enjoyed their time in the park, in uniform and out.
“I love the lake,” Ms. Shenberger said. “Where my home is, I don’t have a lake like this at all, and I love the water. It’s pleasant.”
Mrs. Link cited the former Funhouse and current Cedar Creek Mine Ride as her favorite rides, while Ms. Neuman described her enjoyment of the Raptor — “the more nervous the people get, the faster their feet go!”
Ms. Shenberger had a more grounded perspective, one that many will relate to after a long day at the park.
“If you really want to know what my favorite ride is, it is when I get in my car at night and drive home.”
As the regular season wraps up and trio prepares to man the gates for HalloWeekends, it’s not the rides that keep Ms. Shenberger, Mrs. Link, and Ms. Neuman coming back: They’re here to spend time with each other as they help Cedar Point’s guests into the park. After a lifetime of creating their own amusement park memories, they’re always ready to help others with a friendly greeting and a personal touch that brings people back to their gate day after day, season after season.
Next time you visit Cedar Point, take a break from the rides and go for a stroll down the boardwalk. You’ll like what — and who — you’ll find.
Contact Lillian King at lking@theblade.com.
First Published September 18, 2022, 12:30 p.m.
