9 Fun Facts About Knott’s Berry Farm

From its humble beginnings arsenic a tiny berry workplace to its existent presumption arsenic 1 of Southern California’s premier household taxable parks, Knott’s Berry Farm has a affluent history. It’s a beloved destination for locals and tourists alike.  Here are 9 fascinating facts astir the fashionable taxable park.

Walter Knott partnered with his berry farming cousin Jim Preston, past made his mode from cardinal California to Buena Park, wherever helium leased 20 acres of onshore to workplace a berry crop. During the Great Depression, Knott decided to diversify his income and began selling berries straight to consumers. He soon started selling basal cuttings via catalog to different growers.

2. Walter Knott didn’t primitively make oregon adjacent turn boysenberries.

A antheral named Rudolph Boysen cultivated the berry—a transverse betwixt a reddish raspberry, loganberry, and blackberry. But Boysen mislaid involvement successful selling the caller assortment erstwhile the assemblage failed to clasp it.

Knott was capable to find 2 wilted plants increasing successful a ditch connected Boysen’s erstwhile property. He returned to stitchery immoderate cuttings from the plant, and successful 1933, helium successfully grew his first tiny crop of the antithetic fruit.

The Knotts sold much than conscionable berries and works cuttings. While the Depression continued to rage, Walter Knott’s wife, Cordelia Knott, expanded her tiny beverage country connected the berry workplace and offered fried chickenhearted dinners. The 65-cent repast came with fried chicken, salad, dessert, and a drink.  The restaurant, present called Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant, is inactive unfastened today. It’s celebrated for its fried chickenhearted and boysenberry pie.

4.  In 1940, operation began connected what would yet go the Knott’s Berry Farm taxable park.

Elvis Presley astatine Knott’s Berry Farm successful the 1950s. / Hulton Archive/GettyImages

Knott decided to physique something to support patrons entertained portion they waited to feast connected his wife’s celebrated fried chicken. Ghost Town Village grew successful popularity and soon became a destination successful its ain right. To promote guests to sojourn the caller area, Knott hired a radical of actors to roam astir the western-themed town. With the assistance of decorator and creator Paul Von Klieben, Ghost Town underwent important expansion, including the summation of respective much themed buildings.

Knott’s Berry Farm continued to grow from there; the parkland present has 4 themed areas, implicit with dozens of rides.

Knott’s Boysenberry Festival Corn Fritters drizzled with boysenberry sauce. / Courtesy of Tiffany Telles

The first Knott’s Boysenberry Festival kicked disconnected successful June 1959 and ran for lone 1 week. A “Boysenberry Girl” was crowned, and attendees participated successful pastry eating and foodstuff drinking contests. Today’s mentation of the festival lasts from March to precocious April and is highly fashionable with Knott’s fans. It presently features astir 40 antithetic boysenberry dishes for guests to purchase, from jambalaya with boysenberry sausage to boysenberry cannoli to boysenberry margaritas.

6. Knott’s Berry Farm was the archetypal taxable parkland to person a Halloween event.

In 1973, Knott’s Berry Farm began hosting an lawsuit called Knott’s Scary Farm, which transformed the parkland into a haunted hodgepodge of scare zones and mazes. It’s present truthful fashionable that Knott’s Scary Farm has go the longest-running Halloween lawsuit astatine a taxable park. It encompasses the full parkland and features 1000 monsters and respective antithetic mazes.

“The Old Timer”—a seemingly neckless, white-bearded prospector—became the park’s archetypal walk-around quality mascot successful 1973. Though antecedently utilized successful people products, the character’s 3D look was precise unpopular with guests; Knott’s ain lad admitted that the mascot frightened visiting children. 

Snoopy present represents the California attraction. Knott’s Berry Farm partnered with Charles Schultz successful 1983 and introduced the family-friendly Peanuts characters successful a conception of the parkland called Camp Snoopy. 

8. Knott’s Berry Farm has a replica of Independence Hall that was built successful 1966.

The replica of Independence Hall is adjacent to Knott’s Soak City, and is escaped for guests to access. It’s a brick-by-brick duplicate of the archetypal Independence Hall. The operation is truthful akin to the existent woody that some scenes for the 2004 movie National Treasure were filmed on-site.

Knott’s reopened successful 2021 aft closing owed to the COVID-19 pandemic and celebrated its 100th day by hosting a time capsule ceremony. Among the items successful the clip capsule is simply a panoramic photograph of each successful attendance positive a banner with the names of the park’s employees connected it.