Woody said they made three blunders that killed the park:

1) They figured that people coming to NY for the Fair would also want to see Freedomland, but the Fair turned out to be so big that people didn't have the time, money and energy for Freedomland as well. Even worse, the locals skipped it, figuring they could always go after the Fair had run its course.

2) They really miscalculated the severity of the NY weather. Winter turned out to be worse than expected and really raised their maintenance costs far higher than expected, with a smaller window to actually do the work than planned. They also didn't realize the Memorial Day to Labor Day mentality that means people wouldn't go to Freedomland even if it was open before Memorial Day, or how tough it would be to get workers for other than the summer season.

3) The real killer, though, was labor unions. Woody said they had to pay several times to get one job done, and in some cases, outright pay protection money to avoid stoppages that would have shut the park down. I believe there was a major scandal at the time at the Fulton Fish Market, and that this sort of shakedown was a common cost of doing business. Woody said the unions basically broke them. They may have been able to outlast the Fair, and may have found ways to get around some of the weather issues, but the backers decided they couldn't beat the unions and refused to keep throwing good money after bad.

I have a small collection of Freedomland souvenirs, including some photos. I'll try to remember to add a few to the gallery sometime soon.

Bill