The Port Comes to Fairyland

By C.J. Hirschfield

Although Star Wars creator George Lucas has denied it, we Oaklanders still like to believe that the AT-AT Snow Walkers from “The Empire Strikes Back” were either consciously or unconsciously influenced by our port’s massive cranes, which are used to move huge containers from ships onto waiting trucks and back again.

Full-size Port of Oakland crane.

Movie connection or no, Oakland’s cranes are undeniably super-cool. And soon Children’s Fairyland will offer kids the opportunity to operate a smaller version of them. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for years.

For a little background on the large cranes and the baby crane we’ll feature at the park, I sought out an expert. Terry Smalley worked at the Port of Oakland for 40 years, in charge of the crane department. Today, he says, “I don’t have a title – I’m retired.”

Terry calls the big cranes “very expensive toys,” capable of moving up to 40 30-ton containers per hour. If you think that sounds impressive, consider this: The operator is more than 100 feet in the air, working from a small cab that slides along the arm of the crane.

The Port of Oakland – the seventh-busiest container port in the United States – now loads and discharges more than 99 percent of the containerized goods moving through Northern California. The worldwide standardization of container size has contributed to this success, and California helped set that standard. In 1955, a trucking-company owner worked with an engineer to design a container that could be efficiently loaded onto ships and held securely on long ocean voyages. The eight-foot width of the container was determined by the California Highway Patrol’s rule that no vehicle could be more than eight feet wide. Terry loves telling this story.

Terry says that the idea for a mini-crane came about after a meeting in the late 1990s of then-Port CEO Chuck Foster and his Chinese counterparts. They thought that showing it off and allowing kids the opportunity to operate it would get kids interested in the work done at the Port. And they were right. “Kids loved it!” says Terry, who recalls long lines of patient children—both girls and boys—waiting for their turn at the crane.

A Port employee shows a young visitor how to operate the Port's mini-crane, which will visit Fairyland on April 13.

“It’s like any other toy: it’s fun to be able to do something you can’t do in real life,” Terry told me. “It’s all about the imagination.”

Which is why I’ve wanted to bring the mini-crane to Fairyland for many years. It had been out of commission since 2014, but now it’s back, and better than ever.

On Friday, April 13, from 10 to 2, the mini-crane will visit Children’s Fairyland for our first Port of Oakland Day. We’ll also have tabletop science activities and ocean-related craft projects. Even our popular Toddler Storytimes (at 10:30 and 3 on our Emerald City Stage) will feature port-related books and airport-book giveaways.

The mini-crane at the Port.

Last month, the Port of Oakland announced a five-year plan that anticipates ambitious growth as well as increased community benefits. Growing business volume should lead to more hiring, and local residents will get first priority for those jobs.

So bring your little ones to Fairyland’s Port of Oakland Day on April 13 to play with the mini container crane. “It could be the start of a great career,” says the man who should know.

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C.J. Hirschfield has served for 15 years as executive director of Children's Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation's oldest storybook theme park.