Nothing Green Can Stay

“[There’s] something fascinating about seeing something so big come down,” murmured the man with the mic. The crush of people around me were less circumspect: They fist-pumped and hollered as demolition footage of a spindly, arched steel structure hurtling toward the ground played on a projector. We’d all crammed into the back room of Wonderville, a barcade-cum-DIY venue that, on a Monday evening in April, hosted a memorial service to a roller coaster. Not just any coaster but Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka, the biggest and baddest to ever do it.

Unfamiliar with the ride and its claims to fame (“456ft, 128mph, 19 years. Rest in Speed, King,” read the event flyer), I was intrigued by the event itself. Peter DiDonato, the thrill-seeking don of e-hub Theme Park Crazy, tried his best to commit to the bit, offering brief int…