Storyland (Ontario)

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This page is about the Ontario theme park. For the New Hampshire park of the same name, see Story Land.

Storyland is a theme park located north west of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, near the town of Renfrew, Ontario. It features depictions of classic fairy tale scenes rendered in papier mache and fibreglass. The park also features a mini-golf course and a small water park, bilingual puppet shows, a playground, and staff dressed up as fairytale characters. It is near the Champlain Lookout in Brown's Bay, where Samuel de Champlain made land. In 1953 a large rock was found in the area bearing a chiselled inscription: "Champlain Juin 2, 1613" The authenticity of the rocks inscription has been brought into question by the date formating. The Champlain Lookout was a part of the landscape long before Storyland was founded.

[edit] Founding

The Park was founded by Durk and Bonnie Heyda, two immigrants from the Netherlands. They were unable to have children, so they chose instead to build story scenes to amuse hikers on their way to the Champlain lookout. In 1966 the park opened featuring a windmill, several story scenes and a playground. The park continued to expand, adding new scenes at a steady rate until 1973 when Durk suffered from a heart attack and control was handed to family friend John Berkhout. John continued the parks growth throughout the 1980s, adding mini golf, paddleboats and many additional story scenes, some including moving mechanical scenes.