www.parkworld-online.com
The year 1948 was a prehistoric era for children’s entertainment. There was no Disneyland or Nickelodeon TV, and most amusement parks catered to thrill-seeking teenagers. The few “kiddielands” in the US included a simple carousel, pony ride and cotton-candy stand. It was then that Oakland businessman Arthur Navlet had an idea to change all that. The well-respected nursery owner took his proposal for a storybook theme park, featuring fairytale sets, farm animals and live entertainment, to the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club, a group dedicated to civic improvement (and still active today). They loved the idea. The club and the citizens of Oakland raised $50,000 to build Children’s Fairyland on the shores of Lake Merritt. In 1950, the year Fairyland first opened, admission cost between 9 and 14 cents. Costumed guides led children through the fairytale landscape. All of the storybook sets were created by local architect William Russell Everitt. Navlet designed the gardens, and some of his original plantings still thrive today.
Non-profit and proud Walt Disney visited and incorporated ideas from Fairyland into his “Magic Kingdom” of Disneyland which opened in Anaheim in 1955. Disney also hired Fairyland’s first executive director, Dorothy Manes, and one of their puppeteers, Bob Mills.
The park thrived, and in 1956, the City of Oakland Parks and
Recreation Department hired Burton Weber to promote the wonders inside Fairyland’s gates. Weber created a programme for young children called Fairyland Personalities, which is still part of the Children’s Theater program. But it takes more than goodwill to sustain a place like Fairyland, and by the early 1990s, the park needed help. In 1994 it applied for and received non-profit status. Now it can apply for grants, receive bond funds and solicit donations to further its mission. In 2011 the park welcomed 179,000 visitors. Fairyland has been able to maintain a modest admission price – $8 each for anyone aged 1 to 100 (less than it costs to park your car at Disneyland_ – making it one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most affordable options for family entertainment. Through generous grants from local foundations and corporations, the park waives the cost of admission for some 4,000 low- income children each year.
The park continues to hold fast to its founding vision to be a magical fantasy world where young children can create, imagine, play and learn. With the support of families, local businesses and community groups who believe in their mission and in the potential of young children, Children’s Fairyland will enjoy many years of “happily ever after.”
fairyland.org
Park overview NOVEMBER 2012 59
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