Walks in the enchanted forest, villages crushed by trees which fall under the ice. ‘Humpty Dumpty is OK’

Enchanted Forest, the Oregon fairy tale theme park near Salem, was scheduled to reopen on March 19 after a GoFundMe campaign raised more than $ 400,000 to help the family business bounce back from the devastating drop in tourism financially caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

But the beloved amusement park suffered another setback: The weight of an inch of ice accumulating on tree branches on Friday night knocked over a dozen Douglas firs and shattered limbs that crashed into rides and structures.

The children’s train was destroyed, the tower was destroyed by the castle and other miniature structures were crushed in the villages by hand by the founder of the park Roger Tofte, a former designer of the Highways Division of the State of Oregon who bought the land and started building the Enchanted Forest in the mid-1960s.

Huge trees blocked the paths and tracks, and “made us feel sick to our stomachs when we saw the damage,” said Susan Vaslev, a second generation of the Tofte family. “We have a lot of work to do to get back to where we were the day before. It’s dangerous here, a helmet area. It looks like a war zone.

On Monday, the family met with roofers and a construction crew to discuss starting repairs, while the park was still without power.

“Fortunately we had a lot of big trees,” Vaslev said of the woodland setting, “so we’re not parking.

She would like to reassure fans that the whole park has not been destroyed. “Humpty Dumpty is doing fine,” she said.

Vaslev said they were fortunate that the GoFundMe campaign allowed them to maintain their insurance coverage. But they will have to fund the considerable deductible and the debris removal.

The state’s wildfires in September were an even more tragic time for the family.

Roger Tofte’s 13-year-old great-grandson Wyatt Tofte died in the Beachie Creek fire. His grandmother, Peggy Mosso, 71, was killed and Wyatt’s mother, Angela Mosso, was seriously injured.

Vaslev said the family will soon know if they can still reopen on March 19.

– Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

[email protected] | @janeteastman