Christopher Merritt

J. Eric Lynxwiler

How could one place have the world's best boysenberry preserves (no, Aunt Susan's isn't better!), world-class roller coasters, and Independence Hall, too?Where does a Ghost Town exist alongside a two-hundred-foot Sky Jump, while people wait three hours for a chicken dinner?Knott's Preserved: From Boysenberry to Theme Park, the History of Knott's Berry Farm has all the answers--and many, many more.From the earliest days of the Farm, when Walter Knott, his wife Cordelia, and their kids were serving up baskets of berries "as big as a man's thumb" and berry pies that weighed in at three pounds, to the advent of themed rides, Camp Snoopy replete with the Peanuts gang, and the arrival of the fastest coasters the coast had ever seen--it's all in Knott's Preserved.This updated edition to the book is brimming with more than 200 images--most of them never before published--Knott's Preserved reveals exactly how the Knott family turned a berry business into one of the major theme parks in the world. Artists and designers will flip at the details and artwork the authors display--the how-it-happened of Knott's from the earliest days. The berries and fried chicken were a just a yummy lead-in to what would become a thrills capital of the world. Plus, it's a story of how a man and a woman remained true to their values, sharing profits and credit whenever they could. Heartwarming? Yes. Decidedly so.For everybody who ever put their arms around Whiskey Bill and Handsome Brady, screamed in terror at Knott's Scary Farm, or marveled at the Calico Mine, this is the book that's filled with as much nostalgia as the Farm itself. Knott's Preserved is a must for every theme park lover and all those kids at heart.

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