Go to YouTube, type in "Jolly Cholly's," then sit back and enjoy the nostalgia ride.

About a year ago, former North Attleboro resident Thomas Kearney posted a two-minute home movie of a family outing to Jolly Cholly's Funland, the North Attleboro amusement park that has grown to legendary status by townie baby boomers like myself. In the last few weeks, Kearney has posted a new, improved and expanded version of the home movie. It's wonderful.



The video - which has great color but no sound - follows a young boy, about 2 years old, taking in the kiddie rides. We see him first behind the wheel of a car, powerless to steer it along the winding track. He later enjoys the mile-long miniature train around the park's perimeter, the helicopter that bobs up and down (though rising at most six feet high), the whip car, the merry-go-round, the boat ride. There's even an attraction in which riders propel themselves around a little track with a hand crank, though I don't recall ever seeing or riding that ride in my visits there.

But the shot that best captures Jolly Cholly's is when the young man boards the Ferris wheel (with no seat belt, something you'd never see today). The cameraman - probably Kearney's father - then takes us on a brief panoramic tour of the site - the A&P grocery store across Route 1, the dining halls with large "PIZZA" and "DAIRY CREME" signs, the ticket booth and, of course, the iconic clown entrance. It's exactly as townies like myself remember - and proof to our children that Jolly Cholly's really did exist, even if the site is now an eyesore and tiny compared to the amusement parks they know. When the news came out that a sports complex might be built there - later determined to be on nearby land - I did some Internet research and tripped across the video. I also contacted Kearney, who now lives in Windsor, Conn., but has warm memories of his early childhood in North Attleboro.

Come to find out, Kearney was related to August Funke, who for decades served as North Attleboro's town treasurer. The family lived along South Washington Street, and the kids all attended St. Mary's School.

Kearney says he has "a slew" of home movies shot by his father and grandfather on 8mm and 16mm cameras, many of them from North Attleboro dating as far back as 1947. There are town parades, high school football games and family outings to Abbott Run Swim Club.

Kearney believes the film was shot in 1964, about a year after he was born (which would explain why neither he nor his mother are in the video). The video's "star" is actually his older brother Mark.

Why did he do it? Kearney says he saw the outpouring of nostalgia for Jolly Cholly's over the years - much of it on our Web site - so he dug through his collection, put the home movie on DVD and posted it on YouTube. "I delighted in seeing how much people got a kick out of viewing it," he wrote to me. He'd love to hear from people; contact him at tkearney@sterling-eng.com.

Besides posting it on YouTube, Kearney donated the Jolly Cholly's DVD to the North Attleborough Historical Society, which shows the video when it opens its collection of town artifacts to the public at the Falls Fire Barn.

We also plan to get a copy of the DVD and post it on our Web site, and we've already linked to YouTube. Check it out.

And thanks, Tom Kearney, for the ride down memory lane.

MIKE KIRBY is editor of The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0344 or at mkirby@thesunchronicle.com.