Ghost Town Alive!: A Review

Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA

Today's Monday update is going to be a little different--in that we're actually going to shift across town from our regular Monday anchor at Disneyland to America's first theme park--Knott's Berry Farm--and review their fantastic Ghost Town Alive! experience that they've had going on this summer in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Ghost Town.

Now, we covered the kickoff of Ghost Town Alive! and the general Ghost Town 75th Anniversary festivities in one of Westcoaster's very first posts following our relaunch. But that was largely a preview, and we didn't really have a chance to observe the experience in action until this past weekend, when I paid a trip to the ol' Berry Farm on Saturday afternoon to witness first-hand all the buzz that this summer attraction had garnered.

Be forewarned--this update is long. There are over 100 photos--not only because I felt like there are so many great moments that I couldn't whittle down, but also because Ghost Town Alive! is such an immersive and addictive experience that it could easily last an engaged guest all day. That's a lot to cover! But I came away from my afternoon in awe of such a wonderful and fantastic experience that really brought joy and appreciation for all involved--kids, parents, and actors. It truly is an uplifting, escapist, incredible role playing world that Knott's has crafted, and the pure fun that it brings was evident all day in the smiles, laughter, and energy that both guests and the Ghost Town Alive! characters poured into their roles.

Signs of Ghost Town Alive! are immediately apparent upon entering Ghost Town, such as this proclamation of the big Calico Hoedown that serves as the climactic culmination of the day's activities and stories.

Ghost Town Alive! is an interactive role playing experience set within Knott's original themed land. It features a cast of characters drawn from the various buildings and facades of Ghost Town, weaving together a rich tapestry of good guys and bad guys who play prominent roles in the town of Calico. Guests can interact with these characters in a static fashion--simply having conversations and pretending they are part of the Wild West era in which the story takes place. Or they can participate dynamically by becoming part of the story and performing tasks like delivering messages or figuring out activities that further the narrative. Kids can be honorary deputies under the Sheriff, or they might turn their alliances to the shady Mayfield family, which has legendarily tried to swindle Calico on past occasions.

It took no time to see guests engaging with the Ghost Town Alive! cast, and in character.  In fact, this event has drawn repeated guest visits from season passholders who have been drawn into the stories and mythos--in addition to participation… — It took no time to see guests engaging with the Ghost Town Alive! cast, and in character. In fact, this event has drawn repeated guest visits from season passholders who have been drawn into the stories and mythos--in addition to participation from regular guests, of course.

All of this is reinforced by the setting--an authentic and richly detailed actual western town, transported from Prescott, Arizona, that truly enriches the story and makes everything appear as realistic as possible. Add to this the elaborate costuming and character commitment of the actors, and you have one fantastic and extremely appealing event that has been a runaway success for the park this summer.

The actors, such as assayer Agustus French, are all extremely friendly but committed to staying in character.  They are fun to engage! — The actors, such as assayer Agustus French, are all extremely friendly but committed to staying in character. They are fun to engage!

In addition to the theatrical aspect of Ghost Town Alive!, another perk has been the opening of the Ghost Town "peek-in's" for the first time in decades. Knott's Berry Farm recently spent great effort and dollars refurbishing these priceless and historic sets, which were original to the park's first evolution from a simple roadside berry stand and farm. This has allows guests to access the interiors of spaces typically only observable from the outside. And though the announcement initially prompted fears of guest abuse and concerns over premature deterioration, it doesn't seem that allowing children inside these authentic spaces has created any harm. Lets take a look at the sets and characters that make up Ghost Town Alive!

The Blacksmith

The Blacksmith isn't a unique attraction to Ghost Town Alive!, since guests can participate and learn about ironwork year-round. But the engagement and interest of guests seems to be a great by-product of the Ghost Town Alive! experience, which conditions visitors to interact with everyone and everything, and in the process learn about what life was like for those in the Old West.

A crowd gathers around to see the town blacksmith at work.

The blacksmith takes actual orders from guests looking for a horseshoe or other ironwork item.

A look inside the smith shop.

The blacksmith poses for a picture while taking a brief break from his work.

The Sheriff's Office

Don't let that gruff exterior fool you. Sheriff Bryce Wheeler definitely as a soft spot--for children at least. When he isn't on the look-out and patrolling on guard against the conniving Mayfields, Sheriff Wheeler can be found in his office, dealing cards to any guests who care to play or swearing in new deputies to help Calico.

The Sheriff's Office is one of the several "peek-in's" that guests can explore as part of Ghost Town Alive! Being up close with these restored interiors really allowed extra appreciation for all the hard work that has gone into this craft. It's a real look at history, and it's absolutely wonderful to observe.

The Sheriff's Office in the afternoon golden hour.

Inside, there are plenty of authentic props and furnishings to inspect.

Guests are free to tap the keys of this beautiful typewriter.

A hat and lasso hang on a rack for Sheriff Wheeler's use when needed.

There are plenty of wanted posters, each drawn by "eye-witnesses," i.e. the kids who participate.

The interaction between Sheriff Wheeler and the children was adorable to behold.

Here, Sheriff Wheeler swears in an honorary deputy.

Dealing cards is one of his favorite pastimes.

The Sheriff teaches the children how to play.

"You in?"

But then some honorary deputies run in and warn Sheriff Wheeler of incoming trouble in the form of the rabble-rousing Mayfields.

Well, the Sheriff certainly has a bold response.

Outside the Sheriff's Office, there's a little jail cell for the holding of criminals.

A Calico deputy stands guard.

In the afternoon, guests will find Tiny Mayfield captured inside, prisoner after confessing to be solely responsible for the robberies of the Assayer's Office and the Bank earlier in the day.

Gertie's Dress Shop

Next to the Sheriff's Office is Gertie's Dress Shop, one of the business establishments in Calico. Guests can come in and check out a variety of fashion crafts.

Outside the dress shop of Gertie West.

Miss Felicity is the spinner inside the Dress Shop and works on crocheting, quilting, and a variety of other thread and yarn crafts.

Gertie offers service with a smile and has also designed dresses for the Calico Saloon girls who are performing in town.

The Post Office

The Post Office is where guests can learn a bit of morse code, interact with the postmaster, or catch a copy of the latest edition of the Calico Gazette, the official town newspaper with up to four printings a day to keep up with all the fast-paced news that breaks in town. It's yet another location in Ghost Town that offers interaction with the cast of the show.

The town newspaper is displayed prominently to broadcast the latest news.

The Postmaster poses with his stylish sunspectacles.

Guests interact with The Postmaster inside the office.

The Postmaster will also enlist guests to help him deliver mail, since he tends to get his mail lost sometimes.

Goldie's Place

Goldie West (Gertie's sister, as you may have guessed) owns a hotel in Calico where the visiting saloon girl dancers stay. Goldie enjoys entertaining guests and keeps a constant wary eye on Clay Mayfield and his gang, since they present an unsavory clientele she would rather not associate with. The hotel is another peek-in that guests can enter during Ghost Town Alive!, and the furnishings inside are quite lavish!

Goldie's Place is a popular destination for weary visiting travelers.

Goldie asks a guest if there's been any news of the Mayfields.

At some point, the talk turns to the recent signs of Ox Mayfield, who everyone had assumed to be dead. Unfortunately, I didn't make any further headway into resolving that mystery.

Inside Goldie's Place.

It's cozy but quite elegant.

Goldie poses for a photo outside her establishment.

The Livery Stable

Guest can also see live animals inside the Livery Stable. There were two playful horses and one restful donkey when I was there. Exhibits of old fashioned farm and livestock accessories were also on hand for guests to look at.

Outside the stables, by the water tower (and Catawampus).

Guests could also pet some beautiful horses.

It really takes a firsthand experience to appreciate how majestic these creatures are!

And playful too, as evidenced by this horse who removed the hat of an employee and kept bucking his head as if to show the hat off.

The Schoolhouse

Knott's famous schoolhouse at the end of the Calico lane is literally a historic structure. Purchased by Mrs. Knott and relocated from Kansas, then reconstructed to painstaking authentic detail, it is a time capsule into how education functioned in the 1800s. I had never entered the schoolhouse before this weekend, so you can imagine how excited I was to take photos inside, once given the opportunity!

The Schoolhouse has beautiful lighting toward the end of the summer day.

Earlier in the day, class is full and in session.

Schoolteacher Miss Sierra gives a child some chalk to work on drawing.

Looking Glass Thurmond helps with teaching activities when he is not taking photographs for the Calico Gazette.

Just as a teacher would in the 1800s, Miss Sierra actually gives teaching lessons inside the Schoolhouse.

Bookcases and furnishings are period authentic.

It's really like stepping into a history book!

Miss Sierra poses for a photo.

An old map hanging on the side.

A little organ, also historic.

The engagement of the children was amazing to behold. Under what other conditions would kids willingly literally go to school, and on a weekend?

Later in the day, another teacher took over instruction.

And still, there were families passing through and participating!

The Miner's Bank and Gold Exchange

The Mayfields try to break into the vault at the town bank, but are unsuccessful. No doubt, part of their claim to the town (if not all of it) is to lay claim to the town wealth, especially since its gold mines lay unexhausted.

The Miner's Bank was home to one of two robberies earlier in the day, though this one unsuccessful.

Banker Cookie Lemon stands behind the teller, ready for service.

Only the bank owner, Mr. Tate Bonnet Fortune, knows the combination to the bank safe, on the right.

But outside, undetered, a Mayfield and some associates plot to figure out a way into the riches.

And that is not even all of the locales and characters of Ghost Town Alive! There's also the Barbershop, the Assay Office, Train Depot, Prospector area... each with its own cast, not to mention additional characters in some of the locations above that I just didn't have a chance to meet. The experience is that rich. Of course, the setting by itself wouldn't make Ghost Town Alive! as invigorating as it is without a little adventure to go along, and that's where the interactive story comes into play...

The Mayfields

Early on (during the morning), Calico is visited by the notorious Mayfield family, an unscrupulous bunch who claim to have a deed to the town and are essentially nothing more than a group of bandits. This sets up the good guy/bad guy dynamic and introduces alliances with which guests can enter, depending on which side they want to support.

Typically, in any sort of theme park theater, guests are encouraged to support the heroes and boo the villains. But in Ghost Town Alive!, guests can side with the baddies if they choose to, and many do! Throughout the day, I saw guests gleefully plotting antagonistic intentions with the Mayfields. And the Mayfield family members did their best to be as much of scoundrels as they could. The whole display harkened back to the innocent elementary school aged make-believe--especially from my own youth, where kids would pretend to be cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians during recess and enact their own stories of imagination.

As the day progresses, the Mayfields find that their deed is declared as fake by the judge of Calico. Enraged at being denied, they vow to claim what they believe is rightfully theirs and engage upon a crime spree, robbing several establishments throughout town. Fortunately, the Sheriff rounds up a posse of deputies and is able to put an end to this, even arresting Tiny Mayfield, though there is insufficient evidence to convict the rest of the gang. This allows ringleader Clay Mayfield to declare his candidacy for mayor of Calico--a move no doubt designed to seize power one way or another.

Clay Mayfield declares his intention to run for mayor against the previously unopposed Mayor Parnell.

"Vote for Mayfield," he rallies, "Because, um... no sir!!"

In typical villain fashion, he makes some boisterous and meaningless (but hilarious) campaign promises, such as making people in cheetah print pants fill important positions.

After the Mayfields leave, Sheriff Wheeler urges the good people of Calico to make the write decision and vote for Mayor Parnell.

Elsewhere, one of the Mayfields and paperboy (and occasional pickpocket) Cody Finger interview a prospective bandit.

They quiz him on a variety of thievery-related skills.

Pitt Mayfield is another member of the Mayfield clan.

Ike Mayfield is the oldest, and the "best looking," by his own words.

Leader Clay Mayfield looks on prior to the election activities.

The Election

The afternoon leads to a town-wide election in which any person can participate. This means the Knott's Berry Farm guests of all ages and backgrounds, and all for free ("no poll tax"). And as far as I can tell, it is a legitimate election--guests line up and cast their vote by selecting a slip of paper for either the incumbent Mayor Parnell or the upstart rascal Clay Mayfield, and whoever gets the higher count is actually proclaimed the mayor. This creates a nice "choose your own adventure" element to Ghost Town Alive!, as the characters have to react and shift the storyline accordingly depending on the day's results!

Looks like there's an election today!

The Mayor's wife, Pearl Parnell, organizes the voters into a line.

She is also the head of the Fair Voting Committee of Calico.

More interaction between guest and cast of Ghost Town Alive!

This is town clerk Kenny Storm, who performs his duties with official filing businesses in Calico.

Kenny Storm and Judge Roy Bean have a chat on the porch of Town Hall before the voting begins.

Clearly, something is humorous.

Any guest can vote, which seems to occur between 4:00 and 4:20. It seems to be a two-party system, though.

A young honorary Calico citizen casts her vote.

Meanwhile, the lovely Mrs. Parnell poses for a photo.

She is strong and confident, and also quite charming.

The Mayor poses outside Town Hall.

He has run unopposed for three cycles and had led Calico with dignity and pride, but he faces a surprise challenger on this day.

Meanwhile, Doctor Linville Carter examines a patient with purported hearing problems.

And then, it is time to announce the election results.

City Clerk Storm reads the final tally.

On this day, in a shocker of shockers, Mayor Parnell... loses??

Pearl is very distraught at the news.

The Mayor demands a recount.

Clay Mayfield gets smart and denounces the Mayor's insult to his wife, since his implications of a rigged election mean that she as chair of the Fair Election Committee did not do her job correctly.

Reluctantly, per the people's wishes, Mayor Parnell steps down.

Clay Mayfield is sworn in and celebrates.

The Mayfields revel in their victory.

They decide to march over to the Sheriff's Office to perform their first order of business.

A broken-hearted Pearl Parnell is led through the crowd by her husband as the Mayfields taunt the disbelieving Sheriff, who is given the news that Clay has become mayor.

Clay names his brother, Ike, the new Sheriff, and frees his captured son, Tiny.

Sadly, this means ex-Sheriff Bryce Wheeler has to clean out his office to make way for new Sheriff Ike Mayfield.

The Hoedown

Everything culminates in the big Calico Hoedown in the town square, which happens to be the park area where the old Calico Stage stood (the new stage has been moved across Calico Square to the former location of the Screamin' Swing--and before that, the Haunted Shack). On this particular day, because the devious Clay Mayfield had won mayorship, it was revealed that he had actually perpetrated voter fraud by rigging the election. Fortunately, Sheriff Wheeler was able to administer justice and arrest Mayfield, and Mayor Parnell was reinstated as rightful leader of Calico. All of that settled, it was time for a grand celebration of music and dance!

The big celebration is a festival for townspeople and guests and all.

A live band plays and provides entertainment.

They offer some fun country music for the crowd.

The citizens of Calico are taught various dances.

Restored Mayor Parnell emcees some of the festivities.

Banjo and fiddle--that's certainly fitting, right?

The Mayor makes a speech thanking the people for coming out.

Then, Doc Carter commandeers the stage and asks Miss Sierra to join him.

Thanks to guest help in delivering messages, he now has the confidence to do what he should have done a long time ago--propose to the shocked schoolteacher.

She says yes!

And the band rouses the crowd with a celebratory song.

Once again, it's precious moments like this that make Ghost Town Alive! so fantastic.

Ultimately, it's about everyone having a good time.

Calling out a line dance.

More speeches and merriment.

It's a great party as the afternoon wanes.

More music.

More dancing.

The Sheriff and the Mayor taking it all in.

Mayor Parnell claps his approval at the dancing.

The happy newly-engaged couple share a tender moment.

Indeed, their joy is so effusive that it draws you into their celebration.

A picture of the happy couple.

The Sheriff and a citizen have a word.

The "tallest guy in Calico"--with some assistance.

As the day winds down, the Parnells take their leave.

Everything has ended on a happy note.

But they graciously stop for some photos before Ghost Town Alive! concludes for the day.

As you can see, a commitment to Ghost Town Alive! can easily last a majority of the day, keeping guests occupied from late morning all the way to late afternoon. Of course, since all of this is fun, the experience is not without tongue in cheek. Jokes in the Calico Gazette include advertisements for the elections, such as "Vote Parnell for Mayor--Because Change Is Bad," or his later tagline, "Vote Parnell for Mayor--More of the Same." Many lines are scripted, but some are ad-libbed, as when the the Sheriff jokes that his newly anointed deputies can spend the entire day with him looking out for the Mayfields instead of riding rides. But that's the thing--some of them do exactly that. With great earnest, they join his posse and keep an eye out for the Mayfield family gang and run messages to and from other players in town. Other guests embark on criminal endeavors and support Mayfield's crime spree and later quest for public office. And still others deliver notes between Doc Carter and Schoolteacher Miss Sierra to facilitate their eventual love connection.

Ghost Town Alive! runs until Labor Day, September 5th. It's a great experience and an absolute joy to both experience and take part. In fact, I found the whole production so inspiring that I found myself wishing I had gotten a season pass earlier in the year so that I could have come earlier and repeatedly. Certainly, if Knott's decides to bring this back next year (I think they should--and I know a lot of guests and fans think so too), I would definitely purchase a season pass to visit.

Judge Roy Bean poses for a photo at the end of the day, after the Ghost Town Alive! story has concluded.

Clearly, the park leadership has seen fit to make great moves to increase the family friendly appeal of Knott's Berry Farm and really rekindle that magic and intimacy that was so prevalent when the Knott's owned the park. Ghost Town Alive! is a rousing example of this direction, and the entire design and production team should be applauded.