ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Historic Eldridge Park in Elmira has been operating for almost 100 years in the Twin Tiers. The park is named after a local pharmacist, Dr. Edwin Eldridge, who owned the land Eldridge Park is built on until his death in 1876. The City of Elmira bought the land in 1896, opening Eldridge Park on July 4, 1926.

"I love seeing all of the customers, especially the repeat ones that come back," said Trisha Elwood, the Operations Manager of Eldridge Park. "You get to learn their names and their stories and, um, it's just amazing. I love to see the kids that, you know, will come back all the time and just like, 'Hello, Trisha. How are you?'"

Elwood said she loves sharing her passion for the park to those who come near and far.

"I grew up coming here. So, to come back and actually work for the organization has been wonderful," she said. "I just had a delivery guy today that came in and dropped off Coke, and he goes, 'I didn't even realize that this was here,' and I said, 'It's our little hidden gem.'"

Eldridge Park features three main attractions: mini golf, a lake feature, and rides.

The Mark Twain Golf Course is stylized after Dr. Eldridge's original Victorian Walking Park. Encircling the course, a miniature train offers guests insight into Elmira's historic railroad-centered past.

Eldridge Lake is an 11-acre water feature that Eldridge Park is built around. Visitors can fish in the lake, or take a ride around it on the park's Dragon Paddleboats.

The park features rides including a tilt-a-whirl, the Thunderbirds, pony carts, kiddie boats, turtle chase and the famous carousel. The carousel is one of the oldest and fastest continually running carousel in the United States.

"It's not a traditional carousel. It's got different animals on it, they're not all the same," said Austin Gleason, a team leader at Eldridge Park. "Most traditional carousels have just horses on it. This has a bear, a giraffe, a zebra [and] some weird stuff like that. Not all of them are traditional standing horses; some of them are jumping, too." 

While the rides are aimed for children, the park offers features for adults as well, including its workers.

"I love [when] you get on there [and] you're having a bad day, and you're just like, 'I just need a ride.' It makes it just go away," Elwood said.

Parents WENY spoke with echoed that same sentiment.

"It has something for everybody<" said tara bailey, a parent from elmira. "we have two older kids who can come over and fish, do the golfing, [my daughter] carousel other rides." < p>

Workers say Eldridge Park's impact is all thanks to community attendees and visitors. 

"I think it just is so awesome to be a part of something so wonderful and something so historic," Gleason said.

Eldridge Park's rides and activities are open Thursday through Sunday until Labor Day. The park itself is open for visitors everyday from dawn until dusk.