For those from Brooklyn, NY: Remember Buddy's Fairyland Kiddie Park?

I went to this one acre amusement park as a kid in the 1970s. Unfortunately it closed down in 2002.

I too lived in Canarsie for around a year or two or three. I cant really recall since I was too young. I do recall that we moved away from Canarsie in 1975 when I was 6 years old. We lived on Rockaway Parkway. Just a few blocks up from the original Bamboo Lounge that would be made famous by the movie Goodfellas.

I remember a yacht club, but not sure if this memory specifically took place in the Brooklyn Yacht club. When I was in third grade, I painted a picture of what I called a haunted house. My mother hung it up on the wall over the tv in our living room. A couple years go by and I'm in the 5th grade. My mother takes down my oil painting of the haunted house and enters it in an art contest that was being held in a yacht club somewhere in Brooklyn.

We went down there and I looked at all the other artistic entries. There seemed to be dozens of entries that were colorful strings tied around nails on a board, for example. My entry was the only painting in the contest. I thought that the many other artistic entries were much nicer than my painting and that I really had no chance among the others.

It was way crowded in the building, literally wall to wall people, and I was bored. I couldnt have cared less about this art contest even though my painting was entered. So I went outside the building to escape the crowd. Later on my mother and sister came out to inform me that I won first place. And how, because I wasnt inside when I won, they took photos of my mother and sister instead. I complained "why didnt you come outside to get me?". Cant recall what their response was, but I was pissed that I had one moment of glory in my life and I missed it.

For all I know, whatever I won (a trophy?) is still displayed there at the yacht club,

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.