On October 11th Kristen took me to the new home of the Enchanted Forest. This is something that I grew up with, a local fantasy-themed amusement park that was 7/10 roadside America, 3/10 homemade Disney World – with a focus on fairy tale characters NOT owned by The Mouse. I have vague memories of going there as a kid a couple of times with friends – my parents patiently leading us around a vaguely-remembered arboreal fantasy land of castles and twisted houses. I remember it closing down, in college me a couple of friends were definitely guilty of doing some sneaking and stealing, an apartment-mate collected a couple of the old signs – and at some point the owner of a local farm, Elioak Farms, started collecting in earnest, buying whole buildings off the developer who owned the land (the original site is now a strip mall with a couple of vague architectural references to the old park)… he has now opened his farm as an amusement park of its own. Though not as shady and secret-feeling as the original (it’s definitely farmland, big rolling fields) it’s truly been restored with LOVE!
