The Very Best Medicine

By C.J. Hirschfield

What does Doyle Ott, the director of our renowned Children’s Theatre program, do when the program takes a break from summer-season rehearsals? He goes to Vienna, Austria. Not for the Alps or the waltzing, though: He’s on his way to the international Healthcare Clowning Conference.

Doyle has a Ph.D. in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University and a certificate from the Clown Conservatory. He has trained at Circus Center and has worked with Splash Circus in Emeryville. He used to commute to work on a unicycle.

Doyle Ott in clown costume.

And he has been a member of the local Medical Clown Project for two years, visiting hospitals and shelters to bring “joy and agency” to kids and adults alike.

Recycling Urban Trees

Note: We’re recycling a post that was originally published in April 2010. And we have an update: In October of this year, more than 100 members of West Coast Arborists will return to Fairyland for our third annual Arbor Camp and Work Day. The bulk of the work will take place Saturday, Oct. 13, when six ailing trees will be removed and undergrowth along our fence line will be cleared. In conjunction with this work, we’ll be scheduling a variety of related activities for our guests. Stay tuned!

By C.J. Hirschfield

For more than a decade, three huge redwood logs languished at the back of Fairyland’s meadow and picnic area. I have no idea when the tree was felled, but we had tried over the years to have someone haul the “waste” away and put the wood to good use, but to no avail. Too expensive.

So it was with a huge amount of joy that I watched last weekend as professional arborists from all over the great state of California turned those logs—right in front of the eyes of a thousand kids—into boards to be transformed by those same kids into hundreds of birdhouses that they could take back to their homes.

Arborist at work.

Poop: Gateway to a World of Science

By C.J. Hirschfield

You know what they say about business success: “Always listen to your customers.”

At Children’s Fairyland, we’re always listening. And what do we hear our customers talking about? Poop.

"Everyone Poops," a favorite in Fairyland's Reading Room.

Dolly and Me

By C.J. Hirschfield

I’ve always been a big fan of Dolly Parton’s singing, songwriting, acting and no-apologies, over-the-top style. I never thought we had much in common, though -- until now.

Dolly Parton wearing fairy wings!

You see, Dolly and I are in a special club of women – maybe it’s just the two of us – who run theme parks that champion early childhood literacy: Dollywood and Children’s Fairyland. So in addition to ensuring the ongoing safety of rides, and managing food service and gift shops, we are all about kids and books.