DOGPATCH NOSTALGIA

'It's bringing back lots of memories'

5,000 visitors tour theme park

Greg Darter, left, and Gary Darter, both of Altus, stand on the front porch of what had been Mammy and Pappy Yokum's cabin while taking a tour of the Dogpatch USA property Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, in Newton County.
Greg Darter, left, and Gary Darter, both of Altus, stand on the front porch of what had been Mammy and Pappy Yokum's cabin while taking a tour of the Dogpatch USA property Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, in Newton County.

MARBLE FALLS -- Thousands of people toured the former Dogpatch USA property over the weekend, with many reminiscing about trips to the Newton County theme park during its heyday.

"Our kids loved it up here," said Mary Ann Davis of Pine Bluff. "We used to bring them every summer. They'd fish or ride the push carts. You'd get robbed at the tunnel over there. It was great."

Visitors didn't really get robbed as the train -- known as the West Po'k Chop Speshul -- neared the tunnel. It was just part of the act.

Charles "Bud" Pelsor and partners bought the 400-acre park for $2 million in August. Pelsor said he decided to open the park to public tours this past weekend because so many people had been trespassing on the property. He asked visitors to sign waivers saying they wouldn't sue over injuries, and some buildings were roped off with yellow tape emblazoned with "Caution."

Pelsor, who invented a "spill-proof" dog bowl, plans to spend between $6 million and $8 million to make the former theme park an "ecotourism" destination called The Village at Dogpatch. The chief financial officer of his company, Great American Spillproof Products Inc., is his partner in the Dogpatch project.

Pelsor estimated about 5,000 people toured the property -- 2,500 each day. About 1,500 people signed waivers both Saturday and Sunday, but hundreds more came in through an entrance that was supposed to be closed, he said.

Dogpatch USA was a theme park from 1968 to 1993 based on Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" comic strip, which was published in more than 700 newspapers across the country.

More than 300,000 people visited Dogpatch in 1968, but attendance remained below 200,000 a year in subsequent years.

Constructed for $1.33 million ($9.5 million in today's dollars), the park originally featured a trout farm, buggy and horseback rides, an apiary, Ozark arts and crafts, gift shops and entertainment by Dogpatch characters, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Amusement rides were added later.

Since the park closed, many of the buildings have deteriorated and were overgrown with vines. Pelsor said he spent time this fall clearing out the brush so he could see what he'd bought. The property includes some 25 buildings.

He has plans to recommission the trout farm and mill on the property and clean up Mill Creek so he can re-establish Arkansas' pearl-bearing Margaritifera mussels. There will be displays of painters, sculptors and woodcarvers in addition to a farrier and carriage rides. Pelsor also wants a couple of restaurants in the park.

Many of the visitors on Sunday mentioned the emotional connection they have with the park. Middle-aged men climbed like kids onto the porch of Mammy and Pappy Yokum's cabin. They were the fictional parents of Li'l Abner.

"Supper's on!" Gary Darter, 58, of Altus, shouted from the cabin porch. "We're havin' black-eyed peas and corn fritters."

Darter said he remembered visiting the park in 1968 or thereabouts.

"This is awesome," he said, still on the porch. "I stood right here 30 or 40 years ago."

Inside the cabin, Mary Ann Davis and her husband, Jasper, said they were glad they drove up from Pine Bluff to see the property.

When asked about memories, Davis started to talk, then abruptly stopped.

"I'll start crying now," she said, gathering her composure. "It's bringing back lots of memories. Remembering back when your kids were young and you had so much fun being with them."

Dale Bishop of Harrison also toured Mammy and Pappy Yokum's cabin on Sunday.

Bishop played Mammy Yokum three days a week when she worked at Dogpatch USA in the early 1980s. For another three days of the week she was Dateless Brown, a character who had trouble getting dates.

"I think the fact that people are emotionally attached to it will help it some," she said. "I think he's going to be successful."

Mike Bishop, Dale's husband, said he was impressed that many of the buildings were in good shape, including the Yokum cabin. Now president of the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, Mike Bishop was entertainment director at Dogpatch from 1977 to 1982.

Gwenda Ferrari of Harrison worked at Dogpatch when she was 16 years old. She brought pictures from the park at that time to show Pelsor.

"It brought back a lot of old memories," she said of the tour. "Good memories."

Les Weaver of Springdale said he remembered visiting Dogpatch around 1974.

"It was a lot of fun," he said. "It was packed with people."

As for his thoughts after seeing the property on Sunday, Weaver said, "It's just a ghost ... It's vestigial."

Weaver said he hopes Pelsor can convert the property into a popular destination.

Pelsor, a native of Indiana, is among those who visited Dogpatch when he was a child, around 1970, and made several more visits afterward. He has family roots in the Pope County town of Pelsor.

Pelsor's grandson, Dylan Kemper of Otisco, Ind., will be living on the Dogpatch property, he said.

A Section on 12/09/2014

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