Lakeside Park may refer to:
Lakeside Park is a historic "pleasure ground" park located at Owasco on Owasco Lake in Cayuga County, New York. It is a 40-acre (16 ha) park located within the boundaries of Emerson Park, a 130-acre (53 ha) municipal park system. The property includes four contributing design and architectural features: the remaining 25-acre (10 ha) park, including the primary and secondary paths and walkways, vistas, vegetation, and cast-iron lampposts and benches; and the Pavilion, Carousel Shelter, and Refreshment / Concession Stand. The park was originally designed and laid out in 1895 by the Auburn and Syracuse Electric Railroad Company. A Charles I. D. Looff carousel was installed in 1900. In 1908, this ride was replaced by another Looff carousel. The focal point of the property is the Pavilion; a Colonial Revival style dance hall and restaurant facility completed in July 1912. The Carousel Shelter, a twelve-sided structure built in 1921, once held a 1915 Herschell Spillman Company carousel with 51 animals. In 1972, it was converted into a summer theater. The Refreshment / Concession was also built in 1921 and moved to its present location in 1921.
Lakeside Park is a single from Rush's third album Caress of Steel. The music was written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, and the lyrics were written by Neil Peart. The song details Peart's memories of many summers spent at the park.
The "Lakeside Park" mentioned in this song is on the shore of Port Dalhousie, a suburb of St. Catharines, Ontario, on the south shore of Lake Ontario in Canada. Peart lived very close to Lakeside Park, and spent summers as a child working and playing there. The lyrics mention the "24th of May", which is Victoria Day, commemorating Queen Victoria's birthday.
The actual Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie overlooks the War of 1812 wreck sites of the USS Hamilton (1809) and the USS Scourge (1812). The smaller of the two piers in Port Dalhousie has been used as a staging area for most of the Hamilton–Scourge survey expeditions to the wreck sites, since the early 1980s.
Neil Peart gave some insight regarding the song:
Geddy Lee gave a somewhat unfavorable mention of this song in a 1993 interview:
Midway hawkers calling
'Try your luck with me'
Merry-go-round wheezing
The same old melody
A thousand ten cent wonders
Who could ask for more
A pocketful of silver
The key to heaven's door
Lakeside Park
Willows in the breeze
Lakeside Park
So many memories
Laughing rides
Midway lights
Shining stars on summer nights
Days of barefoot freedom
Racing with the waves
Nights of starlit secrets
Crackling driftwood flames
Drinking by the lighthouse
Smoking on the pier
Still we saw the magic
Was fading every year
Everyone would gather
On the twenty-fourth of May
Sitting in the sand
To watch the fireworks display
Dancing fires on the beach
Singing songs together...
Though it's just a memory