Autumn at Oz Festival 2016

Last weekend my sister and I went to the Autumn at Oz Festival at Beech Mountain, NC. It takes place annually at the defunct (but well-cared-for) Land of Oz theme park. Last year was cancelled because extreme weather conditions, but we were there the year before. The theme park is utterly charming. The festival was packed with guests. I've never seen so many tiny children dressed as Dorothy assembled in one place. My sister and I didn't wear costumes this year, but we added some poppies to our outfits.

The little stone hut with the orange door is the Cowardly Lion's house. I never imagined the Cowardly Lion's house, either while reading the book or watching the film, but this seems about right. I thought it was pretty cute how the designers of the theme park gave the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion each a little house. Dorothy, on the other hand, has a big farm house. The top part is a regular cottage that is rented to guests. The bottom part and basement level has crooked floors and disheveled furniture, representing Dorothy's house after the tornado. The yellow brick road starts at Dorothy's back porch, where a set of witch's feet can be seen peeking from underneath the house.

We had a great time at Oz, and we enjoyed the beautiful drive there as well as eating at a local pizza restaurant afterwards. We got photos with many of the characters (the Scarecrow was hilarious, and a little upset we were wearing poppies). Somehow a North Carolina mountain forest is the perfect setting for the Land of Oz.

bloglovin | tumblr | twitter | pinterest | instagram