Photo Essay: Taking a Bite of Knott's Taste of Merry Farm Before Its COVID-19 Closure

It had been four years since I'd last visited Knott's Berry Farm...

...and here I was, going twice within a matter of just a couple of weeks, in a year when nearly everything else was canceled. 

In October, it was for the theme park's Taste of Fall-O-Ween. And by November, the orange bunting and fall foliage wreaths at the main gate were replaced by evergreen wreaths and plaid ribbons, marking the holidays. 

I'd actually been to Knott's Merry Farm once before, in 2014—but this time, with the pandemic closing the rides, the park had pivoted to its Taste of Merry Farm. 

Ghost Town got all dolled up in the colors of the season...

...ornamented by the glittery spectacle of a giant Christmas tree that seemed to evoke nothing of the Old West. 

But the old standbys of the Ghost Town attraction were there, like the Gold Trails Hotel...

...with a character I guessed to be the Ghost of Christmas Present (but I was too polite to ask)...

...and the Calico Saloon...

...with Ebeneezer Scrooge himself heckling the crowds for not living up to his work ethic. 

At Town Hall, there was no sign of the Mayor, the Mayor's wife Miss Pearl, Milton the Deputy Mayor, or Judge Roy Bean...

...but we did swing by to pay our respects to "Old Betsy," the antique mine train from Trona, California...

...and to the town jail to say hello to "Sad-Eye Joe," who insists he's not sad (though his eyes are). 

             

It figures that the only way for there to be no line at the GhostRider wooden rollercoaster is for a pandemic to have shut down its operations. 

But I distracted myself with a Christmas tree-topped red velvet cake, part of the special holiday-themed menu of the Taste of Merry Farm tasting event.

 

From the Fiesta Village...

 

    

...to the Boardwalk...

              

...it was nice to just walk around in the open air and admire the decorations. 

Unfortunately, Knott's had to shut down its Taste of Merry Farm event when California regional lockdowns ordered all SoCal outdoor dining to cease.

The good news is that Knott's is opening its gates—for free—for a couple of shopping days to support its craft vendors and give last-minute shoppers a place to pick up some gifts and feel festive. 

What will 2021 hold for Knott's Berry Farm? I don't think anybody knows. But I would think that as long as outdoor dining reopens, the theme park could resume its annual Boysenberry Festival in the springtime. 

Related Posts: 

Knott's Berry Farm Taste of Fall-O-Ween Whets the Appetite for the Full Park Experience 

Photo Essay: Upon the 75th Anniversary of the Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm 

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Knott's Berry Farm Taste of Fall-O-Ween Whets the Appetite for the Full Park Experience

Knott's Scary Farm may be canceled this year, but Halloween has nevertheless arrived at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. 

The annual haunt usually features a number of mazes with long lines and scare actors who interact with those who are waiting—neither of which is really possible right now with the coronavirus pandemic. 

But the family-friendly theme park has figured out a way to open its doors—something Disneyland has yet to do—while it’s decked out for Halloween and Día de los Muertos. 

During its "Taste of Fall-O-Ween" food event...

...games, shops and food stands are fully operational. 

Rides, however, are not. 

 

But honestly, Knott's is endlessly entertaining even without the rides...

         

...especially in its Ghost Town. 

And it's hard to resist the chance to have some pumpkin-flavored soft serve ice cream, washed down with a boysenberry beer. 

And stilt walkers' faces are so high up, it's pretty easy to keep a safe distance. 

    

The entire park is open—from Ghost Town to Fiesta and even the Boardwalk. 

And while there's no indoor dining, you can find an outdoor spot to perch and refresh—a necessary thing, since you can't walk around with your mask off. 

It had been a couple of years since I'd been to Knott's for its Boysenberry Festival—and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it.

I'm hoping for a Knott's Merry Farm version of this tasting event so I can return (maybe not at 5 p.m. on a Saturday, when it's so crowded). 

And whenever the rides reopen safely, I'll be queuing up.      

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Photo Essay: Upon the 75th Anniversary of the Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm

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Photo Essay: Upon the 75th Anniversary of the Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm

It's kind of hard to believe that another amusement park has managed to thrive in more or less the next town over from Disneyland. I mean, Disney is Disney, after all. It's the happiest place on earth!

But Disneyland has been evolving and modernizing. It's been shifting its focus away from Frontierland in favor of Tomorrowland. And that means Knott's Berry Farm will soon have the market cornered on amusement park depictions of American pioneers and frontier life in the Old American West.



Yes, Knott's has a water park and some roller coasters in its main park. But for me, the main attraction is its Ghost Town.

Photo Essay: The Faces of Knott's Berry Farm

When people think of Knott's Berry Farm today, maybe they still can smell the chicken dinners or the boysenberry pie.



Maybe they feel the jolt of the roller coasters or the racket of an Old West gunfight reenactment.



As for me, I think of the faces.



Its ghost town wouldn't seem nearly as ghostly without those haunting, creepy figures.



It started with the "Calico Belles," Marilyn (inspired by the real Marilyn Hargrove Schuler) and Cecelia (inspired by the real Cecilia Peterson)—concrete figures sculpted and painted in 1954 by Claude Bell, Knott's resident sculptor.



They were modeled after two "Calico Saloon" dancing girls named Marilyn Schuler and Cecelia Peterson and sat on a bench at Calico Square.



Back then, getting your photos taken with their facsimiles was nearly as popular as seeing the real live girls doing the can-can in a show.



Since then, they've been replaced by Ruby and Flo, and more figural sculptures "of the period" have popped up around the park—even outside of the ghost town, as far over as Camp Snoopy.



Those saloon girls were just the beginning of Claude Bell's notoriety—having created Dinny the Dinosaur (a Brontosaurus) in 1975 and Mr. Rex (a tyrannosaurus) in 1986 out of steel and concrete (well, shotcrete) to help advertise his restaurant, the Wheel Inn (now demolished), in the town of Cabazon.



Moreover, credit can't be given entirely to Claude Bell for creating some of the most memorable faces at Knott's Berry Farm, as the animals in the menagerie merry-go-round were carved by craftsmen at the Dentzel Carousel Company nearly decades before Walter Knott opened his berry farm.



In fact, this antique Dentzel—one of only three found in Southern California (the others at Disneyland and Castle Park)—is among the oldest operating ones you can find anywhere.



Built in 1902, it resided at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania until 1936, when it moved to Brady Park in Canton, Ohio. It arrived in Buena Park in 1955.



In addition to its horses, it's got a giraffe, a deer...



...two pigs...



...a goat...



...and four ostriches.



Of the three rows on two separate platforms—for a total of 48 animals—only six of them have had to be replaced with fiberglass replicas.



This 1902 model is not to be confused with the carousel that was part of the Knott's Lagoon attraction, which had its own Dentzel carousel. The Lagoon was bulldozed and paved over for parking, and that carousel was auctioned off as part of Bud Hurlbut's collection in 1990.



Now, I go to a lot of amusement parks and county fairs and such. I'm up on all the latest trends and thrills. But no matter how much G-force the modern-day roller coasters can make me experience, and no matter how "real" virtual reality becomes, nothing will ever compare to the artistry and craftsmanship of these old, antiquated, mechanical machines with their galloping horses and snickering faces.

And nothing can haunt me quite like creations of Claude Bell and the other faces of Knott's Berry Farm.

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Photo Essay: Castle Park and The King of Theme Park Train Rides

Somehow, the concepts of amusement parks and theme parks have conflated into one.



And while theme parks are, indeed, amusing...



...not every amusement park has or even needs a theme (especially in the advent of "thrill rides," like at the themeless Six Flags).



From Santa's Village to Disneyland (whose multiple themes include "adventure," "fantasy," the "frontier," and the land of "tomorrow"), there's no better way to escape the humdrum of real life than to travel back in time or to a land that's far, far away...



...than to run off with the circus, so to speak, at least for a couple of hours.



In the case of Castle Park in Riverside, you'd be transported back to Camelot...



...to the time of Merlin and other figures of Arthurian legend.



Castle Park opened in 1976, seven years before Medieval Times would take the concept to another level with its immersive dinner theater show (and 10 years before Medieval Times would arrive in Buena Park).



And while there are still glimpses of 11th century life in England...



...the current experience at Castle Park is definitively domestic...



...with pieces of Americana, like the antique car ride...



...and the Castle Park Railroad.



The two-foot narrow gauge railroad was built by Castle Park founder Wendell "Bud" Hurlbut, who'd already made a name for himself in miniature locomotives and train-based amusement park rides designed for Knott's Berry Farm (like the Calico Mine Train).



You can credit Hurlbut's creations for Knott's with helping it expand beyond a berry farm and chicken dinner restaurant into a full-fledged amusement park.



Trained (or, rather, self-taught) as a mechanical engineer, Hurlbut is considered one of the country's first theme park creators.



Even the ultimate train fan himself, Walt Disney, used to visit him at Knott's while he was building the Calico ride. And while many may think that Disney created the "hidden" line of waiting would-be passengers (with all of those switchbacks), he actually borrowed the idea from Hurlbut.



His work was so revolutionary and groundbreaking that after his death in 2011 (when he was still operating the Hurlbut Amusement Co. in a barn across the street from Knott's, well into his 90s), his train-building business was bought by Katiland Trains, the biggest amusement park train manufacturer in the country, located nearby in Riverside County.



With no children to pass them down to, much of the contents of his workshop were sold off in 2012. (He'd already sold the park decades before.)



As much as he's associated with trains, Hurlbut actually began his amusement park career as a carousel man at Knott's in the 1950s.



That's when he operated a 1905 Dentzel Menagerie-Jester Head model that had been relocated there (to the Lagoon) from Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.



In 1985, when Hurlbut was expanding his Castle Park beyond an arcade and miniature golf course, he moved the historic carousel to Riverside and added it to what was becoming a fully developed amusement park.



Its Ruth band organ had previously been rescued from The Pike in Long Beach (1911-1979).



Among the 20 menagerie animals on the two-level platform, you'll find a tiger...



...a lion and a goat...



...two bears and two pigs...



...three deer...



....and four each rabbits, cats, and ostriches.



Among the 30 horses scattered between three rows, 18 are jumpers and 12 are standing.



And of the 50 total animal figures, 19 are made of their original carved wood and 31 of them are fiberglass reproductions. Many of the original figures that were replaced by copies were auctioned off in 1990.

Before Hurlbut died, a documentary filmmaker asked him what regrets he had in life. His answer? "That carousel auction," he said.

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