Knott's Taste of Calico 2020

Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA

Well, this is new. Literally! For the first time in several months, we have an update that’s actually based on new content, not just a retrospective!

Earlier in the week, Knott’s Berry Farm very suddenly announced a limited-time mini-food festival event called the Taste of Calico, which is running this and next weekend, Fridays 4-10pm, Saturdays 4-10pm, and Sundays 12-8p. The event is a very limited capacity, advanced-purchase-only, outdoor experience that basically condenses Knott’s Boyseberry Festival into its Ghost Town extents (and a little bit beyond that), offering a throwback to the park’s early roots as a theme park built to help guests pass the time while they were waiting for their reservation at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

Guests who are interested must purchase a Tasting Pass online only ($25 for adults with 5 items included; $15 for kids with 3 items included; discounts available for Season Passholders, but a Season Pass alone does not permit admission). The Tasting Pass reservation serves as the ticket into the park, this is operating strictly for this event only. There are no rides or shows, and the Boardwalk, Fiesta Village, and Camp Snoopy are off limits. So in a sense, the Taste of Calico is an offering for park fans who miss the ambiance and are interested in an event that complies with the State of California’s Coronavirus health measures for service operations—not to mention the first sneak peek at how theme park operations around Southern California may function once parks are allowed to reopen while the pandemic is still active.

If you’re interested but curious about how the event is like before committing to visiting, keep reading for our report. I’ve tried to make this as informational and objective as I can in order for you to draw your own conclusions.

A quick side note before we get started though…

When I got the notification and media invite for this event on Wednesday, I was interested in attending but cautious over how the event would be run. Since the Coronavirus Stay At Home orders have been in place, I’ve been largely careful about limiting exposure and keeping social distance, leaving home primarily for essentials like food and supplies or picking up take-out meals. At the same time, I can’t claim that I’ve been completely fine with the social isolation. I definitely miss my friends and miss going out to events (heck, this blog is an open manifestation of such interests), but at the same time, I recognize that it’s important for everyone to do their part in mitigating the spread of the virus and disease.

That said, now that we’ve had half a year of data and observations to look at, a few things have been clear to me personally, based on the predominant scientific data I’ve read:

• Outdoor functions present a significantly less chance of infection spread compared to indoor activities because the natural breezes and ventilation of the exterior environment disperses the virus particles much more than interior spaces, which may lack sufficient ventilation and can keep virus particles in the air for longer periods of time, prolonging the chance of exposure. There’s a certain minimum number of taken in virus particles needed to actually trigger a Coronavirus infection, so more spread out the particles are, the less are inhaled even if one comes in contact with them.

• Outdoor functions can also be spaced out more than many indoor functions, giving greater ability to maintain social distancing (not just the six feet everyone’s accustomed to hearing about, but even more if needed). A lot of spread is related to infected people being in close proximity to other people for an extended amount of time. Think of being spritzed with a spray bottle—but continuously.

• There is a lot of evidence of mask wearing (as divisive as this has somehow become) in mitigating transmission. Most masks work to protect others from the mask wearer, not to protect oneself. But if everyone cooperates and wears masks while in the same space, they create a sort of “herd immunity” protection that greatly limits the outward travel of breath droplets in which the virus travels.

The conditions of Knott’s Taste of Calico seemed to allow for these parameters to be maintained. Guests would be required to wear masks and pass a temperature check before entering. The event is entirely outdoors (well, I did see that some of the permanent shops in the park were also open, and those would require anyone interested in shopping to go inside). And, as I learned after further questioning, capacity would be limited to 10-15% of the normal capacity of Ghost Town itself. Not 10-15% of overall park capacity—just the capacity of that part of the land.

With those assurances in mind, I felt comfortable enough to venture out and check out Knott’s Berry Farm’s summertime craft beer and food festival.

California Marketplace

Before we head inside the park, however, lets take a look at the California Marketplace—Knott’s shopping area adjacent to the park—which has been open for several weeks already. Knott’s California Marketplace is operating on a limited extent, with stores limiting their capacity and and outdoor dining spaces created on a blocked off Grand Ave to allow for places like Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant to continue to serve patrons.

(Grand Ave being closed means that anyone who wants to visit needs to continue down Beach Blvd, then turn right (westbound) onto Crescent Ave to get to parking. The entrance to the parking lot is another right off Crescent, before it intersects Grand. Parking is free to all visitors.)

The Marketplace was very quiet when I strolled through yesterday afternoon around 5:30. There were some people dining on picnic benches that had been spaced out on Grand Ave, and the ambience Knott’s had set out was quaint and actually pretty charming. I noticed several stores, like Peanuts Headquarters, Candy Parlour, Marketplace Emporium, Virginia's Gift Shop, and Build-A-Bear Workshop, open. But they were very quiet.

Knott’s is selling plenty of Boysenberry goods—including a lot of wares that they couldn’t offer because their Boysenberry Festival was cancelled.

Park apparel and merchandise is available too.

More boysenberry goodness.

The Candy Parlour is open for all of your sweets’ desires. Note: Candy Parlour is not Dan-approved.

Grand Ave has been closed off to vehicular traffic.

Instead, widely spaced picnic tables have been set up to offer outdoor dining.

This serves Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant, and—I assume—TGI Friday’s eventually.

A little stage set up. I didn’t see any sign of entertainment, though.

Check in for dining.

This is Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant’s formal outdoor dining area.

Chicken butt!! I mean face.

Entrance Health Checks & Safety Protocols

Like all theme parks, Knott’s has adopted healthy and safety protocols aimed at limiting the spread of the novel Coronavirus as much as possible. These include ramped up cleaning measures, masks-wearing requirements, temperature checks before entering the park, and constant markers and encouragement to maintain space away from other guests or groups. Nevertheless, there is also a disclaimer for all guests to acknowledge an assumption of risk of exposure. At the end of the day, going into the public is always a greater risk of exposure than just staying at home. It’s Knott’s job to make sure that risk has been lowered as much as possible, but it cannot guarantee that it’s lowered the risk to zero.

This disclaimer sign greets guests walking up Grand Ave from the parking lot.

The major rules are reiterated everywhere: keep social distance from others, and cover your face.

Markers have been laid out ahead of the park entry in case of line backups.

Guests are asked if they’ve exhibited any symptoms of being sick prior to entering the first gateway. The answer is largely dependent upon the honor system, but park employees do ask that guests read the sign and answer.

After a quick outdoor switchback, guests enter the indoor queuing for their temperature screenings.

One nifty move to speed up processing… Knott’s has implemented body temperature cameras instead of relying on individual employees to use scanning thermometers on people at close range. This also helps get people through more smoothly.

This is a nice touch to minimize delays and holdups, so as to keep people moving and away from each other as much as possible.

Security checks are still in place, but guests are asked to empty their pockets only after passing through the metal detector and triggering it. This is in contrast to emptying pockets and putting items in trays before, which would have had to be cleaned repeatedly.

Welcome to the park!

Plexiglass barriers have been installed to keep gate attendants better protected from the multitude of guests they’ll have to engage. Guests’ reservation ticket barcodes are scanned through the glass, and the attendants set the Tasting Card and lanyard on the table behind them, allowing guests to pick them up as they pass.

Ambiance

I’m not going to lie. It was nice to be inside a theme park again for the first time in (for me) four months. True to their word, Knott’s has significantly capped off the number of guests allowed into the Taste of Calico at a very low number, and the result was very unusually open spaces throughout the park.

I’ve tried to take a large assortment showing a random sample of the park environment to give a feel of how “crowded” things are. I’ve avoided intentionally waiting for guests to walk through my frame, so as not to give an illusion that the park is emptier than it actually is. I’ve also used mostly wide angle photos so that the true density of any particular area is more accurately portrayed (telephoto shots—such as those photos of crowded beaches that many news outlets showed—are a little misleading because they compress the perspective and make spread out people look closer than they truly are).

The net result: at least based on yesterday, there really is a significantly lower amount of people around, and there is plenty of room to keep social distance and maneuver around other guests. The only areas where crowds could occur were the lines for the food stands themselves (more on that later in its own segment), but even then, I noticed that the majority of people self-policed and kept their social distance.

The following is an assortment of photos around Ghost Town and a bit of its adjacent areas to give a feel for the atmosphere of the park. If you want to experience Knott’s on a very not-crowded day, this is definitely the chance to do so!

Although guests can also access the walkway between the Silver Bullet cobra roll, most people will enter the main Ghost Town entrance.

These photos were taken in the late afternoon, between 5:30 and 7:00.

The ambiance is quite peaceful!

Definitely not bustling at all.

The exception being areas around restaurants and food stands. Of course, that makes sense. The whole event is about the food.

Calico in the afternoon glow sure is purdy!

On an average day, a shot like this would most certainly feature a dozen or more people in the frame, not just the few seen in the background.

Picnic tables and benches have been set up everywhere to allow plenty of locations to eat.

They’re spread out too.

There are also outdoor vendor stands in various locations throughout Calico.

This is similar to what guests see during the park’s season events like the Boysenberry Festival and Knott’s Merry Farm’s Christmas Craft Village.

A quick note between differences in perspective… the previous photo was taken more zoomed in, and seems more crowded. This shot is almost the same scene but at a wide angle. It’s more open.

The Boot Hill Cemetery is open and a great open space to keep way from others. It’s also an implicit reminder to mask it or casket.

More picnic tables around Calico park.

The pathway is blocked off just before the Calico Mine Ride.

Over by Judge Roy Bean’s.

Again, where there are more people, they’re typically congregated in line for food.

The Calico Mine Stage has been given an astroturf carpet and lots more benches.

Normally, this would be home to Knott’s Summer Nights right now.

More benches, looking back toward Calico Park.

The area up by Charleston Square is actually open too. Just enough to offer more seating areas around the fountain.

The area is blocked off just left of this shot.

The Boardwalk looks beautiful even if it’s empty.

Blocked off by Silver Bullet over here (and also before the tunnel under the Stagecoach Trail).

Camp Snoopy is a no-pass also.

Sanitary Measures

Although the spread of the novel Coronavirus appears to be primarily through droplet transmission over the air from person to person, and there is less evidence of surface transmission now, it’s still a good idea to keep as many things clean as possible. As such, Knott’s has upped their sanitation members, installing hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the park and positioning staff members to clean surfaces as soon as people finish using them. Seeing open evidence and example of this multiple times during my few hours in the park was definitely reassuring.

Park employees clean touch screens and other surfaces regularly. Not that there were a lot of people at, say, the shooting gallery. But if you wanted to play, at least the things being touched were clean.

I also saw custodial staff swoop in frequently after guests finished eating and left a table and proceed to wipe down the tabletops.

There are hand sanitizing stations galore. I also appreciated that they were the push button type (touchless would be more ideal, but this works) so that I could use my forearm to dispense rather than the pull tab types under the dispenser that require me to touch with my hands.

Some of the stations are mobile too.

Food

The main attraction of the festival are the food offerings, of course. With no rides open and no theater shows to enjoy, the main purpose of attending this event is to enjoy the park environment… and eat!

There are over 20 food, dessert, and beverage items on the Knott’s Tasting Card, spread across 8 locations throughout the little town of Calico. Many of the items are recognizable from past Knott’s food festivals, and others would have appeared in this year’s Boysenberry Festival, had it gone on.

The tasting card has a QR code on the back that is scanned at the cashier’s register. The simple act of removing the hole punch and making all transactions touchless is another appreciated example of Knott’s implementing small measures to mitigate Coronavirus risk.

Here’s the front side of the Knott’s Taste of Calico tasting card.

And here’s the back! Lots of yummy items around!

I ended up getting all five items from Sutter’s Grill, located near the front of Ghost Town (just behind the Wagon Camp)—not only because they coincided with most of the best looking dishes to me, but because I didn’t want to wait in more than one long line (see next section for the line issue).

Basil Lemonade
Tasty but not too tart, but also strong on the basil flavor. Your enjoyment of this depends entirely on how much you like basil. There’s a Cucumber Lemonade sold at Wilderness Broiler.

Pulled Pork Sliders
My favorite item I tried. Delicious and tender pork, great crispy onion strips, and the fries were also really crispy and well seasoned!

Mac & Cheese Bites were also pretty fantastic. The spicy ketchup was delectable, and the fries were a good accompaniment here as well.

Boysenberry BBQ Wings.
You can’t go wrong with these, except that mine were a little cold when I go them.

Samosas with Boysenberry Chutney
These were also excellent. Lightly crispy and crunchy, with a nice tart in the chutney. They were good at the Boysenberry Tasting experience and good here too.

I didn’t try these, but I did see a lot of people getting the Deep Fried Potato Chips with an Onion Dip at Wilderness Broiler.

I remember the Gumbo with Chicken, Shrimp, and Boyseberry Sausage on Basmati Rice being alright when I tried it at past events. Find it by the Wilderness Dance Hall (along with Boysenberry beer, wine, and sangria).

The Gourmet Churro Factory offered a Mini Stuffed Churro with Boysenberry Filling that looked pretty tasty!

Lines

Lets talk about the one notable drawback that I observed: the lines. Despite such a limited capacity of guests, there were still long lines everywhere through a significant part of the day, in some cases ranging as much as 20-45 minutes! The most popular locations seemed to be Sutter’s Grill, the Fireman’s BBQ, Wilderness Dance Hall Patio, and Judge Roy Bean, with lines there averaging the half hour level. Wilderness Broiler seemed to have shorter lines due to its location at the back of the park, and Gourmet Churro Factory had shorter lines due to its limited menu.

Beyond the annoyance of long waits for literally the primary attraction guest came for, the long lines also created greater opportunities where social distance was NOT maintained, as the queues easily outstretched the ground markings already set up.

Now, to the credit of the vast majority of guests I witnessed, people largely self-policed and keep their distance away from other groups. And several times, where I observed people being a little closer than they should, Knott’s employees would come in and politely ask the line to shift and space out, in order to maintain the requisite six feet. And guests behaved! I didn’t see any complaining or scene-making, and I also noticed that the vast majority of guests not only did wear their masks but wore them correctly—covering the mouth and the nose. There were a few uncovered guests (who weren’t eating or drinking) and guests with their nostrils exposed, but to my pleasant surprise, I found the percentage of less obedient folks to be very small and less than what I see in regular experiences at stores and markets.

That said, if there was one criticism I could point out, it would be the need to speed up service so that these lines wouldn’t be quite so lengthy—especially during peak meal times.

By far the longest line of the park sprawled from Sutter’s Grill.

Lets follow it!

.

Going back toward Silver Bullet…

Still going…

There’s the end…

…if the line stretches back here, expect a wait of 45 minutes or so!

The line at Ghost Town Grub.

And the end of the line for Fireman’s BBQ.

The two lines actually pass by each other.

But at least people were spacing themselves out.

Looking back at Ghost Town Grub and Fireman’s BBQ lines.

The front of the line for Fireman’s BBQ.

The queue at Wilderness Broiler was much shorter all three times I swung by.

Probably on account of its more remote location.

By the Wilderness Dance Hall…

Rounding the corner…

This length was pretty common through my time in the park and was about a 20-30 minute wait, based on people I asked.

The line for the Gourmet Churro Factory in Calico.

And for Mix-It-Up… spilling into Calico Square.

Judge Roy Bean was another popular spot.

It stretched into Indian Trails.

Or at least the old Indian Trails segment of Ghost Town.

Shopping

The Taste of Calico offers little boutique stands from independent vendors selling a variety of crafts and apparel similar to what’s found at the Boysenberry Festival and the Christmas Crafts Fair. There weren’t quite as many as normal at this event, but that makes sense, given its smaller size.

The only indoor component of the event were the permanent shops that were open for business and selling Knott’s merchandise. I did notice that they seemed to be operating in rough one way traffic—with only one entrance and one exit to pass shoppers through a generally single-direction course and minimize contact with each other. That was a nice touch.

Many stands at the Taste of Calico from independent merchants.

.

.

.

And official park souvenirs inside the regular stores too.

Relax Zone

The park has two conditions that allow for removal of face coverings. The first is when eating or drinking, since one obviously cannot do so with a face mask in the way. The second is over by Mystery Lodge, at a “Relax Zone” created for those who want to [literally?] take a breather.

The initial thought of an area specifically located for people to not wear a mask was odd to me initially, but I did overhear someone pointing out that a zone like this would be beneficial for guests with breathing problems who want to visit but still need some moment to remove their mask.

As it turns out, the queue area of Mystery Lodge has been cleared of its switchbacks, and the overhead fans have been accelerated to maximize ventilation in this technically-outdoor space. Benches are spaced away from each other in order to provide extra social distancing even if people are not wearing masks. So to that end, I can appreciate the consideration taken to set up these extra accommodations while still maintaining safety.

Mystery Lodge hasn’t operated in a while, and it doesn’t appear it will do so anytime soon.

The purpose of the Relax Zone.

This is what it looks like.

Benches are spaced very far apart to counteract the technically increased viral spread risk of not wearing a mask.

Entertainment

Finally, while there were no specific shows at the Taste of Calico, there was some amount of entertainment—carefully planned to avoid congregation. In the Calico Mine Stage, a DJ played ambient (and typically country) music for anyone eating in the area. Meanwhile, in several locations throughout Calico, Knott’s brought a touch of the cancelled-for-this-season Ghost Town Alive! by having Deputy Mayor Milton Howell and favorite son / bandit Clay Mayfield engage in unscheduled banter sessions at various upper floor decks in town. The duo would engage each other and passers-by down below in improvisational conversations that were random, hilarious, and endearing. Even though GTA! can’t happen this year, this was a really nice gesture to keep the spirit of the beloved summer event going.

DJ Katar was in the house for Knott’s on this night.

He was there maintaining a bit of music for guests to enjoy by the Calico Mine Stage.

Above the streets of Calico, the Deputy Mayor and the leader of the Mayfield Gang would occasionally do a little unscripted performance.

No storyline. Just winging it and providing ambiance acting.

Being high above was smart in that they avoided attracting guests and fans swarming around them.

They also kept their social distance from each other.

The performances were entertaining in a silly way.

And they offered nostalgia for Ghost Town Alive! fans.

And they weren’t always in the same area either!

So all in all, I left the Taste of Calico impressed with how Knott’s has come up with a system to provide the safest reasonable measures for guests within a theme park setting. I spent a few hours just observing and taking in the ambiance of the setting and guests and looking to see where there might be issues, and aside from the lines, what I largely found was a relatively well-planned, socially distanced, enjoyable event aided by the active participation of behaving guests. The last bit is important too—no matter how perfect a safety measure is, if a guest decides to flout it, a situation can still become unfavorable.

How this shapes up for future Knott’s operations is still to be seen. I’m not sure how realistic it is for Knott’s to cap attendance at 10-15% of park capacity and still have profitable operations. In addition, while guests were well behaved on this day, the participation of clientele once rides are open and additional crowds wait in those queues may also be different.

But for this afternoon, at least, I generally liked what I saw, and it was nice to take in the classic Knott’s ambiance once again. I understand if anyone might still think opening a theme park is a bad idea while a pandemic is still raging, and anyone who opposes going to an event like this is certainly reasonable to do so. But I feel Knott’s has implemented a pretty good system in place thusfar, and if they can solve the line and food service capacity issue, they might have a good blueprint for broader operations.