Did you take a final lap on the go-kart track? Play one last round of minigolf with friends? Win any souvenirs from the ticket counter?
If you didn't go yesterday, you'll never go again to Boomers! family-fun megaplex in Dania Beach. The old Broward staple, housing every childhood niche under the sun, is slated to be demolished this year, making way for retail space, hotels, condos, and more of the usual.
From all four corners of the tricounty area, fans young and old packed the place out to rehash old memories and wave one last goodbye.
Attempts to reach the manager went unreturned by presstime, so we don't know the final count of customers on Sunday, January 25, but we can be sure players stayed on till the bitter end, waiting in line to turn tickets into prizes after the 10 p.m. cutoff, even as the games were quieted and unplugged.
The old grounds were teeming with revelers throughout the day. By 7 p.m., the snack counter was out of nacho cheese. Employees graciously allowed the go-kart track to stay open past its 9 p.m. curfew. Grown-up kids waited an hour, sometimes two, to get their last fix.
All around the campus, people shared Boomers! memories, quick to remember a time even older when it was called Grand Prix. It seemed everyone had a birthday here, at one time or another, but no amount of nostalgia can stop the march of progress.
According to the Sun Sentinel, the Boomers! entertainment complex will be demolished and replaced with DaniaLive, a retail destination complete with dining, possible housing units, and at least one hotel. Fans were hopeful there'd be some kind of amusement destination in the old space.
It's a bit sad but hardly surprising. Some of the old games were glitchy, and one look at the ceiling revealed decades of dust hanging on like some kind of asthma-inducing spray foam. The pizza was bad, the beer was cheap, but it was most defiantly a relic of a weirder, simpler time in South Florida.
Employees were on hand helping to take outside attractions into the building. The go-karts are to be auctioned off, supposedly along with the old arcade games and putt-putt houses, though we currently don't know when. Who knows? Maybe the loyal among you still have a chance to win one last memento. We're calling dibs on the giant Connect Four.
Follow Kat Bein on Twitter @KatSaysKill.
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