Knotts

Knott's Berry Farm has canceled appearances Aug. 11 and 12 by rock legend Chuck Berry. A park spokesman said Wednesday that charges of marijuana possession and child abuse leveled against Berry last week by Missouri authorities were "implied but not specifically" the cause of the cancellation. "Apparently there was a scheduling problem on his part," Knott's publicist Stuart Zanville said. "All parties agreed it was best for him not to be here at this time."

A recent state report on a fatal accident in September at Knott's Berry Farm serves as a wake-up call for the local amusement park and a report card for others on the state's 2-year-old legislation designed to improve theme park safety. The state Department of Occupational Safety and Health was right to insist on review and changes in the Perilous Plunge ride and a new training program for park employees as a condition of reopening the ride.

Tickets for Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park are still available. The spookfest, now in its 27th year, is considered the granddaddy of them all. "Halloween Haunt turned out to be more popular than we thought," said Knott's spokesman Bob Ochsner of the idea first conceived to increase park attendance on Halloween night. Now, he said, as a result of the event's success, October ranks right up there with the summer months when attendance is at its peak.

Paint brush in hand, Lee Thomas stood ready to take on the next prehistoric monster. A garishly green 200-pound baby Triceratops a few feet away had already met its match; a gray-undercoated 15-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus rex awaited her. "In this light, all of these figures look a little strange," said the figure-finisher at Sequoia Creative Inc., which is creating 21 fully mechanized figures for Knott's Berry Farm's newest attraction.

The owner of Knott's Berry Farm said Friday it has completed its purchase of the Buena Park Hotel & Convention Center for $17.5 million in cash. In buying the 320-room hotel, at Crescent and Grand avenues, Knott's positions itself to compete more effectively with Disneyland. The Anaheim theme park, the county's largest tourist draw, is planning to open a second theme park and a third Disney hotel in 2001. Knott's is trying to develop a similar resort-styled park, but on a smaller scale.

As Six Flags Magic Mountain and Universal Studios Hollywood battle it out this spring with their new attractions, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm also have new projects: Knott's Berry Farm: On Memorial Day weekend, the Buena Park attraction plans to open Thunder Falls. The area will be highlighted by Mystery Lodge, a special-effects attraction that will tell a story based on the traditions of the Native American peoples of the Northwest Pacific Coast.

Knott's Berry Farm has long been one of Orange County's premier locations for a day's fun, both for residents and tourists. Last week's ill-advised promotion to lure people to the park turned into a disaster that can't be allowed to occur again. The Buena Park theme park marked Cinco de Mayo with an admission charge of only 5 cents. The normal rate is $36 for adults and $26 for children. No surprise that the turnout was enormous.

Knott's Berry Farm's replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall reopens today, Constitution Day, after nine months of renovations. The building, dedicated by Knott's founder Walter Knott in 1966, had fallen into disrepair by the time the Buena Park theme park was sold by the Knott family last year. The renovations were undertaken by the new owner, Cedar Fair LLP of Sandusky, Ohio.

Despite opening its new Supreme Scream thrill ride over the summer, Knott's Berry Farm has little chance this year to equal the 3.65 million visitors it attracted in 1997, the partnership that owns the Buena Park theme park said Friday. Attendance has improved since June but "has not caught up from its disappointing early season," the result of El Nino deluges, said Richard L. Kinzel, president of Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair LLP.

Re "Knott's Pulls the Plug on Edison Workshop," Jan. 5: I agreed with Peter Small, Knott's Berry Farm's historical impressionist, when he said, "It's sad ... to see the workshop closed." But as I continued to read the article, I was heartened to see it was going to be replaced with Peppermint Patty's Candy and Souvenirs. Children were still going to be educated -- albeit at the dentist's office, with its tantalizing display of picks and drills ... all ready to fix those cavities. Knott's, you should be ashamed.