There’s a slight chill in the air, but despite the festival’s name, autumn has not yet come to Oz. The leaves have just started to lose some of their luster on their way from bright green to deep golds and reds. We’re dropped off at the Judy Garland Memorial Overlook, a gazebo with incredible views of the lush green landscape. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan Apples hanging from the crabby trees. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan A face in a tree trunk. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan A sign welcomes visitors to Land of Oz. The view from the Judy Garland Memorial Overlook. Passengers mouth the words along with the beloved characters, and our small shuttle contains one child-sized lion, one scarecrow, and several Dorothys. The shuttle stops on the narrow road to let descending vehicles pass, but a screen playing The Wizard of Oz on a loop keeps us entertained. This year’s festival was expanded to two consecutive weekends to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the movie’s theatrical release on August 25, 1939, and included food and craft vendors, pony rides, and appearances by Oz authorities.Īfter parking in downtown Beech Mountain, I board a shuttle (borrowed from a local Christian tour group) that takes visitors on a 10-minute ride further up the mountain along Oz Road.
Tickets to Autumn at Oz, the park’s most popular event, usually go on sale in June. Visitors searching for their heart’s desire in Oz don’t need to liquidate a witch or bring a broomstick offering all that’s required for entry is a yellow wristband. Skies are blue and the clouds are far behind me as I slowly navigate the numerous, stomach-churning hairpin turns along Beech Mountain Parkway. I was born five years after the last pair of ruby slippers skipped over the shiny yellow brick road perched high atop Beech Mountain, but this September, I finally got to realize my dream of visiting Land of Oz. As I grew older, I knew, of course, that Oz was not a real place-even in the movie, it’s all ultimately revealed to be an elaborate fever dream. When I was a kid, I watched The Wizard of Oz so many times that our VHS tape gave out one day due to sheer exhaustion. The Scarecrow walks on the yellow brick road. Land of Oz, which first opened its emerald gates in 1970 and closed only 10 years later, now reopens several times a year: in early summer for the interactive event Journey with Dorothy, and on September afternoons and evenings for Autumn at Oz and Dining with Dorothy.
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