Dogpatch - a photo on Flickriver

Dogpatch

Opened in 1968 as a hillbilly theme park and associated with Al Kapp and his "Lil Abner" comic strip, the park was initially successful and hosted around 2-300,000 visitors a year, and many music acts such as Reba McIntyre and Ike & Tina Turner. By 1976 the park was facing foreclosure, but continued operations until 1993, when it closed permanently. Since then, it has gone through a series of owners, including some kid who got it through a lawsuit he filed for getting injured at the park.
In July of 2018, I visited Dogpatch with my girlfriend on our way through Arkansas, hoping to hop a fence and explore the area, and were surprised to see the place open! They had a restaurant open (sort of), which seemed to double as their business office, and they had somewhat rehabbed the motel, which we stayed in for the night. We met the new "owners," David Hare, who had come from Los Angeles and had some sort of success in show business, and a husband and wife who had moved from LA with him. They told us they were on their way to Florida to build some sort of theme park when they happened upon Dogpatch and decided to buy it. They were offering tours, so we signed up and they drove us all around the property, which is in significant disrepair. They were telling us super lofty tales of how they were going to fix it all up and rebuild the railroad, and the bridges, and all the attractions, and fix the lake and stock it with fish, etc. etc. It went on and on. Laura and I were looking at each other like these people were nuts and it was a total pipe dream. We started to get hints at what their real goal was, and that was to create some sort of religious cult compound. They were holding religious services at one of the buildings, and strange religious references came up several times during our tour of the property.

Here is a link to a YouTube video of David Hare talking about the first two months after their arrival:
youtu.be/50OOv_A-tIQ

Here is a bizarre video called "Down in Dogpatch," by David Hare, starring his puppet creation "Foxworthy." This is truly bizarre, and you MUST watch this!!
youtu.be/NLnNi5ezGBo

Apparently, they were not the actual owners, but were leasing the place. According to Wikipedia, they never paid rent, and were being evicted as of August 2018. Utilities were shut off, and ongoing legal proceedings have stagnated as they are unable to locate this conman.

Taken on: July 5, 2018

Tags:

Dogpatch

abandoned

park

arkansas

marble

falls

lil

abner

kapp

comic

strip

rusted

old

barn

building

decay

broken « less

Sets appears in: • Rust Belt Tour 2018

Groups appears in: • Abandoned Places and Things • Fading America more » • Abandoned, Neglected, Weathered, or Rusty • Mission Abandoned • Abandoned, Decayed & Forgotten « less

Stats: 1,746 views / 2 comments

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