Mr Marvels photo exhibition to feature in Scarborough's Big Ideas Festival
One of two bespoke Scarborough-focused exhibitions highlighted in the wide-ranging programme of events in this year’s Big Ideas By The Sea Festival is a further display by former professional photographer Paul Wilson.
Following on from his poignant array of Futurist Theatre pictures last year which documented the before, during and after the demolition of the former seafront venue in 2018, Mr Wilson returns with another nostalgic view of Scarborough’s recent past - a comparable visual essay on the demise of the former Mr Marvels Amusement Park.
Opened in 1969, it was a key element in the infrastructure of the town’s North Bay tourist attractions.
Titled ‘Marvels: The Carnival Is Over’, Mr Wilson has similarly photographed the site from its heyday to the present documenting its abandonment and decay.
The resulting selection of images is to be exhibited at The Shakespeare Gallery in St Helens Square opposite the Market Hall.
Former businessman Mr Wilson, said: “Until 2002, when the lights dimmed and the machines finally fell silent, the air around Mr Marvel’s Amusement Park was filled with laughter and the delighted screams of children.
“Now fondly remembered by those children – long since grown up – the site lies abandoned.
“With a quiet inevitability, nature is slowly reclaiming what was once a vibrant place of fun and excitement.
“Revisiting the site of a once popular Scarborough attraction, today it is largely inaccessible; the only way in is from the cliff top.
“Access from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre area has been sealed off with a metal fence, originally installed to prevent freeloaders entering during the concerts.”
Mr Wilson continued: “During a few visits in the years leading up to the park’s closure in 2002, I photographed several scenes for the Scarborough Tourism Guide.
“Those images captured giant fibreglass dinosaurs with children climbing over them – long before health and safety became so restrictive – along with the chairlift and the colourful Noah’s Ark.
“In 2007, I began returning regularly, searching for and photographing the remnants left behind after the site was cleared: a dinosaur’s leg, a stall game, a child’s sunglasses, and the occasional structure still standing.
“In 2015 construction began on the new Alpamare water park.
“Soil excavated for the swimming pools was relocated onto the Marvel’s site, covering a large area where the outlines of sideshows, kiosks and walkways had once been, along with the objects associated with them.
“Fortunately, I had documented much of this before it disappeared.”
‘Marvels: The Carnival Is Over‘ by Paul Wilson is at the Shakespeare Gallery (opposite the Market Hall) in St Helen’s Square, Scarborough from May 16-17, 22-24 and 29-30, between 11am and 4pm. Admission is free.
Big Ideas By The Sea festival runs from May 15 to 30. Visit bigideasbythesea.com for more information.