The Catskill Game Farm (R.I.P.) - Casinos next? (Greene: motels, homes)

[jfkIII]

After 72 years in business, The Catskill Game Farm is closed and the giraffe sign at the entrance is painted over. For many boomers, it was a rite of childhood passage to go there with their WWII Veteran-era parents. It had its heyday, along with the rest of the Catskill resorts, in an era long past. May it rest in peace.

Are casinos the only thing left to bring this area back? There's fierce debate on this, both for and against. After all, the first casino (Resorts) opened in Atlantic City in 1978 with the same promise of revitalization. That revitalization is finally materializing in AC...but it took almost 30 years! Can our roads and infrastructure handle an influx of slot-hopping tourists? We certainly need the jobs. Most in this area now support the idea.

[Logan11]

I think the advent of cheap airfares and so many other vacation options severely hurt the old Mom and Pop motels, small theme parks etc. in the Catskills region. It was a big deal for those Post WW II families to travel up in their car to the country on the new Thruway. Now you can hop a plane and get a discounted weekend in Vegas or Orlando.

Now Greene County is seeing a lot of building and growth by people looking for weekend homes etc..but the classic family vacation destination situation is mostly past. The one tourist area that still does well is the ski industry. They better make sure they support Hunter and Windham.

I think I heard that the Game Farm property is probably going to be developed for homes. It would probably be pretty appealing right along the mountainside. FWIW ..I see Balliwick Ranch next door now has started a petting zoo. Maybe they picked up some of the Game Farm animals in the auction?

[Marticus]

Maybe after the billionaires, the politicians, big-business and their yuppie-lackeys are through, the Chinese and the robot work force from Japan can open up a petting farm on the old game farm grounds, and they can pay the starving remnants of the Greatest Generation to pretend they are still living in the greatest country in the world in the 1950s! For an extra animal cracker or stroke on the head some might even squeak out a few bars of the Star Spangled Banner! It is so sad what has happened to Upstate N.Y., but when it is finally completely destroyed and owned by foreign mobs, the tolerant, progressive politics of all those "nice" people around there will have been the longest nail in the coffin. But by then I am sure they will have found some other niche to exploit, maybe Havannah.

[ckhthankgod]

I know this old, but is still being viewed. Since this thread has been started, the number of casinos in the state have picked up from the state and in terms of Native groups. So, it may be a matter of where is the next casino going to be located?