5/26/2023 0 Comments Log flume ride papea park![]() ![]() It seems that Roger’s early designs and plans were a source of inspiration – or at least smiles – to the people issuing building permits. Roger says that Norman Rockwell paintings were an inspiration to him. ![]() When he was 13, he got a Norman Rockwell book that – in the back – showed all the steps Rockwell took to put a picture together. Part of that may come from his artistic background and love for Norman Rockwell paintings. One reason Roger’s vision took so long to manifest is because he is a stickler for detail. “When I did have people criticize, it spurred me on,” he says. People were talking about the man on “idiot hill” building things at the “funny farm.” But Roger would not be deterred. One year of building on weekends and many evenings quickly turned into two years… then four, then six. This included Roger visiting the sites of homes being demolished to see what he could salvage for repurposing in his creations. That resourcefulness and creativity proved invaluable while building the park. He built everything by hand.īoth Roger and Mavis had to be very resourceful and creative because they had virtually no savings. There was no electricity, no machinery, no heavy equipment. He then took the bag of cement to “the property” where he mixed it in a wheel barrel and got to work. He had training in watch repair, so he would fix a watch and used the money he earned to buy a bag of cement. Roger worked extra jobs to pay for the cement he needed to continue building Storybook Lane. Roger was 34 when he started building Enchanted Forest The final load of stones proved too much, breaking the axel on the seemingly invincible red wagon. His father-in-law had a flatbed truck and they’d travel 20 miles to the quarry to get stones that were then taken to the base of the park where the kids wagon was used to transport them – one by one – to places they were building iconic scenes like the Giant Witch. “I could have just used concrete blocks you know, but here are these massive stones.” “I look back and that was the hardest way to do that,” Roger tells Theme Park Magazine. The documentary “ The Enchanted Forest Story” includes amazing vintage video footage of Roger and his friend Jerry Maness hauling massive stones, from a nearby stone quarry, up and down pathways in a red wagon belonging to one of Roger’s children. As he created pathways, Roger used natural openings in the landscape for his hand-built “scenes.” After all, they were part of his attraction. Roger was 34 years old.įor guests to appreciate the surreal beauty of this new park, Roger felt it was vital to protect the trees, bushes, and natural surroundings. So, he reached an agreement to pay $500 down and $50 a month. The land could be his for $4,000 money he did not have. A real estate agent helped him find 20 acres of land in Turner, just south of Salem. ![]() Roger’s first step was to find forest land that bordered Interstate 5, making it easier to attract passing motorists. But she said she would support this idea if he kept his full-time job at the Oregon Highway Department as a draftsman. Mavis had seen it before, with the board games, the paintings on plates, the contraptions, etc. And like most people with a lot of ideas, Roger would go from one pursuit to another, none of them quite sticking. Roger is like a lot of creative visionaries – he has A LOT of ideas. A grand vision developed in his mind – he would build an attraction in the forest where families could walk through amazing storybook scenes! During a road trip to Minnesota, the family stopped at a few roadside attractions and parks to entertain the kids. Roger lived in Oregon with his wife and children (Susan, Mary, Ken – and later, Lori). There’s Peter Piper, Little Miss Muffet, Hansel and Gretel, Mary and her lamb, Alice in Wonderland, the Seven Dwarfs’ home and mine, and the castle with a dungeon and moat.Īs you walk through Storybook Lane, you cannot help but be in awe that all Storybook Lane’s fairytale wonders were built by one man in the 1960s and early 1970s – Roger Tofte. And as you follow the path, a magical journey begins to unfold through handcrafted “scenes” that bring fairy tales and nursery rhymes to life. When you enter the Enchanted Forest Theme Park, near Salem, Oregon, the first sign you see is “Start at Castle” with an arrow pointing the way. ![]()
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