Humpty Dumpty sits on a sign,
yeah, just off I5 South of Salem,
OR his smile beckoning passersby
in to be enchanted Forest home to
fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
Yeah, it's kind of typifies
Willamette Valley. I
think as natural as you can
get for amusement park.
While inside the park's creator,
91 year old Roger Tofte is
busy outrunning near impossible odds.
Oh boy, catching problems.
Yeah and working hard to keep
his dream alive then at some.
What more than 50 years?
Just doing my thing geared up like a
superhero ready to take on the latest
villain to stalk this storybook land?
Yeah, we were still trying to recover.
Kind of depressing.
This is where a lot of damage was done.
The February Ice Storm was punishing,
bringing down hundreds of trees,
hills, branches coming
straight down like a spear.
And y'all just cuts through it like butter.
Yeah, the whole top of that tree
fell down Rogers daughter Susan,
and it all fell this way.
Co manages the business side of things.
Those trees fell straight down this path.
And just smashed through the Kitty train.
The Kitty train is no longer right
now up to $1,000,000 in damage,
splintering plans for its
COVID limited season opening.
There's something that
hasn't been repaired yet.
But then Rogers had tougher foes, yeah? Yeah,
how is idiot Hill doing her?
How's the funny farm doing?
When this father of four
bought 20 acres in 1964,
thick with trees and bushes on a
steep hill off the highway to many,
his dream seemed well like a fairy tale.
Did anybody ever say you know he
was crazy? Oh, definitely,
definitely. They said
he was crazy. He thought about being
an illustrator for Saturday Evening
Post instead, turned his drawings
into sculptures with a vision.
A lot of the cars whizzing by would stop.
For a roadside amusement park, when I first
started, you know it was
all brushed through here,
so I just crawled on my hands
and knees and kind of imagined.
Or the trail would go.
Roger cleared the brush,
then handcrafted, sculpted and
painted each feature. Yeah, the first
thing I made was a pumpkin Humpty Dumpty on
his wall. He fell down, Roger had
to repair him a few years ago,
when some park visitors sat on it, yeah.
Working man in his crooked house,
the old woman in the shoe.
Good memories, daughter
Mary, who manages the park with Susan
wasn't even in school yet, but she remembers
when we were kids. She used to
be in our backyard before this
was given open and then
after three years I got thinking
man I wonder if I should keep going.
But then I thought, well,
I've gone this far mother just
keep plugging away and he did for
seven years the park opened in
August of 1971, yeah? A constant deal
just to keep everything up. Ah,
50 years later, why his work still not
done. I'm the mayor.
The sheriff and the Commissioner.
But even the Marshall of
Tofte Ville, on his trusty Steed.
Couldn't stop the year that brought COVID.
Yeah, there is no year
like this. The pandemics shut the
park down and with only a six
month season we knew financially we
were in big trouble.
That's the biggest problem with
running a park like this. It's.
All the things that could happen, and
in this Kingdom where Rodgers iconic,
which was the most wicked thing around,
something even worse, was on the horizon in
the midst of the whole
pandemic. All of a sudden
this happens all sides
of the road.
In September, wind whipped flames
roared out of the mountains and
down the Canyon. We were in
our park trying to get things
out that were really important.
We saved, you know,
important hard drives dads artwork.
Dads plans things like that. While the
fire didn't end up touching the park,
it did scorch its soul. 6:00 o'clock
in the morning I get a phone call
from Dad saying that White and
Peggy have died in the fires.
And dumb. I just couldn't
believe it, so we've had a tough
year. Rogers great grandson Wyatt and
his dog Duke died trying to save his
grandmother as they tried to escape
the fire in Gates in Masanti am Canyon.
Peggy and Wyatt were the sweetest,
most wonderful people you would ever
want to meet and just losing them just.
It's just heartbreaking. Yeah, they're
really doing quite a bit of the castle, but
just as in fairy tales when evil forces
are conquered by good, there's magic
in the Enchanted Forest. We started
the GO fund me and the next morning.
I mean, it was amazing. Within
days, the community rallied around the
park and family two separate GO fund
Me's raised nearly $800,000. It is truly
a magical feeling, kind of unbelievable
all the support we have
and the cobblestone streets
of the park's English village is
paved with that love. They really
get to express. Themselves in
these bricks hundreds of park
goers bought bricks. Yeah, great memories,
laughter, fun to help keep the park afloat,
just like they're also personal.
I just think they're beautiful.
The people stopped me and thanked me
for doing it, so it's just kind of
rewarding. And Roger wasn't about to let them
down. Yeah, right. Absolutely he
always says quitter never wins
and a winner never quits. And
that's exactly the
philosophy of our family. But
there was one more obstacle. The family.
Received threats when they announced
proof of vaccination would be required
for park entrance, so they waited
for COVID restrictions to ease.
Yeah there for awhile.
We didn't think they were
gonna open back up before,
welcoming eagerly awaiting
guests. Yeah, we're excited.
Oh we were, you know,
terrified that you know
they wouldn't make it.
We see people lined up then.
Let's see, they'll
open it pretty
soon. Eight months after the Enchanted
Forest closed, we can open the gate.
I think yes. So exciting. The
big day arrives. Yeah. And
a new chapter in this
story book begins. You're
going to have a lot of fun, yeah, oh, good.
Good Eleni Marshman and her daughter Joanna
thank you very much for the support,
are excited to share the enchantment.
With granddaughter Stella
Salad, do you see your name
anywhere and show her there brick?
I think it's right here that helps
save the park. There it is. That's
so cool. Our names are here forever.
And so are the names of Wyatt Tofte all
right here and his grandmother Peggy.
Right here, who died in the wildfires means a
lot to us. Something that will be here for a
long time and just above their
memorial early, appreciate all
that they've done a plaque thanking the
community for supporting the family
and helping the park reopened
for its 50th year brings out the
best in people already more and more families
will get to come and enjoy it.
And and that it won't this dream that Mr.
Toffee had you know it won't die.
Hockey dusty right here.
Like Humpty Dumpty. This
park had a great fall.
Yeah, but Roger,
his family and those who love
them did what all the Kings,
horses and all the Kings men.
Couldn't they put it together again?
This is so cool.
Came together pretty good.
So the dream Roger Tofte built may
continue to enchant. Generations to come.
Patch real threshold.