Old photos of Santa's Village in its active days from 1958 to 1979 show scenes of Santa's workshops, reindeer and frequently one or two of the colorful giant mushrooms that decorated the park during its heyday. After the park closed the mushrooms were distributed.
For years only one mushroom remained on the site but unfortunately that last mushroom has been mushroom-napped. Another of the mushrooms was rescued by Bob Wynn of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. And yet another mushroom was transplanted to the courtyard of Emerald Bay Apartments in Soquel where it “grows” next to a large Coast Redwood.
A few of the mushrooms were donated to the city of Scotts Valley who sold them to raise funds. Fortunately, two of them were kept and are are currently housed at the city’s water reclamation facility. Word has it that these two sculptures will be relocated to sit in the park slated to be built to the left after you cross the bridge into the new subdivision.
Congratulations to leesv for the FTF!