Dairyland

I was going to write about this anyway...and realized how it tied into the Monday Memories theme. I'll update shortly with the link to other Monday Memories posts...


We discovered it two or three years ago.

Alpenrose, which was a famous Portland area dairy, had a special little western town with all sorts of wonderful, amazing things. My husband had actually been coming to Alpenrose since he was a kid and they use to have a fireworks display from the grounds. Growing up farther away, I had only been there once... and now there seemed to be even more to see, especially now that we had little ones in tow... Dairyville's western town had all of the following:

*A storybook lane An very old opera house (upon entering, you could sit in the grand theater and watch old cartoons (the ones I remembered from my preschool days...like "Sinbad the *Sailor" and "Popeye"!)
*A building housing minature trains, all run by volunteer train enthusiasts
*The old ice cream shoppe (with Alpenrose's own signature icecream flavors)
*A barn full of ponies, horses, goats and pigs.
*And a lot, lot more!

Every Sunday, we discovered, was free children's day! We couldn't believe that something so old-fashioned and wonderful- and free!- would still exist. As we entered the gates, we could go into a special ticket area in the western town and get free passes for lemonade, one licorice, one pony ride where the hitched ponies went around in a circle (this was the highlight for our girls as you can imagine!) and one pony-drawn mini-stagecoach ride. Oh- and a balloon!

Then, if that's not all...the famous clown, Rusty Nails (who is now in his 70's and a wonderful Christian who use to have his own Tv show, by the way) performs on the little old stage in the center of the "town". Yes...all of this for free! It was only on Sundays from June- September...but at Christmastime Santa came.

And it was all wonderfully free... wonderfully sweet... wonderfully old-fashioned.

Yesterday afternoon, we all eagerly packed into the car, our girls excited especially excited for the pony rides. They each even brought their stuffed horseys, which they had named after the ponies they had ridden their first summer there. We arrived...to see one other lone family wandering about and almost everything closed up. Were we early?

As we strolled through, we saw that the storybook lane was still open...the trains were still running...the ice cream shoppe where you can buy a bowlful for $1.50 was still open.

But the barn shudders were all closed and locked. There were no older folks voluntarily handing out free passes....no lemonade, no ponies, not even the old opera house welcomed us to sit down amongst the ornate furnishings and enjoy a cartoon.
Our spirits fell...those of our girls, but also of my husband and I. Was this the end of an era? Of our little family tradition? I went inside the ice cream shoppe and spoke to the older gentleman behind the counter. He was one of the train club members who had been apart of Alpenrose for many years and he began to tell me the very sad tale of how the remaining dairy family decided to stop the little stage show, close the theater doors, and empty it's barn of the little animals. The family fun Sunday was indeed over, until further notice.

The gentleman's eyes told of his sadness...and his own shock of learning all of this just two weeks before it was to open. And he told of the all-too familiar story of liability suits, which caused the pony rides to come to end. The woman who owned the ponies, he said, had been in tears at the news of her not being able to return. Apparently, it had given her great joy to see the look of wonder on little children's faces as they road the gentle ponies. And all of the volunteers who came faithfully each Sunday did so because they loved to see the delighted little ones scamper through the town with their balloons and laugh at Rusty Nails.

Although my four year old had been talking for days about her upcoming pony ride, the girls took it a little better than I expected. No tears...but their sad faces mirrored our own as we made the drive back home in the summer heat. My husband wisely said that we should be grateful for the times we had to enjoy it. And yes, that's very true. We have some great times there, and I wouldn't be surprised if my girls have dim memories of it which they can carry into adulthood.

But yet, I'm still feeling a little sad this morning. Sad for ourselves... for the many families just like us....for those that didn't even have a chance to discover it... and for the little community of volunteers that had given so much of themselves there for so many years. I guess, most of all, for I am sad for this ending to something so charming and wholesome, which speaks to me of yesteryear.

I'm going to compose a letter to Alpenrose. But I doubt it wil make a difference....what can mere human emotions do to compete with liability issues and such? But it will serve as a catharsis for me- and in a roundabout way, for my family. And I'll get out the pictures, look them over with fondness, and perhaps make some long-overdue scrapbooking pages. And of course...write down my feelings and share all of this with you...today.
Thank you for allowing me to mourn just a little bit our family's special place. And the end of an era.

Pictures taken last summer. Rusty Nails entertains all the kids- mine stand with hubby on the porch toward the left.