New Jersey's iconic Fairy Tale Forest to re-awaken in fall The theme park was originally opened in 1957 by a German immigrant

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Fairy Tale Forest theme park undergoes revival Fairy Tale Forest, a small theme park in West Milford, NJ, is expected to reopen its static and mechanical exhibits by fall 2018.

Fairy Tale Forest was the area’s main theme park attraction prior to Jungle Habitat's four-year run near Greenwood Lake and the subsequent opening of Action Park in Vernon in the 1970s.

WEST MILFORD — It’s not fantasy. Fairy Tale Forest may soon re-awaken from its long sleep.

Closed 13 years ago, the theme park that brought famed bedtime stories to life in the town’s Oak Ridge section is nearing a renaissance, said owner Christine Vander Ploeg.

A family-friendly restaurant, aptly-named Fables, is due to launch by the end of summer. Sections of the park first opened in 1957 should become accessible in the weeks after, she said.

“It’s exciting, bringing back something that’s so generational,” Vander Ploeg said.

For Vander Ploeg, the renovation is personal.

Once upon a time...

Vander Ploeg’s grandfather, German immigrant Paul Woehle, his two sons and some local tradesmen spent four years crafting the park's structures and sculptures prior to its 1957 opening.

Designed by Woehle's imagination and inspired by the Brothers Grimm, the park set children at awe in the few acres behind a roadside “castle” and massive “wooden” shoe for nearly 50 years.

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Bettina Bieri, the town's mayor, said she brought her children to the "Forest" each year to see the holiday displays.

"It was not only unique, but a wonderful, local family destination," she said. "I think its return would be wonderful."

Fairy Tale Forest was the area’s main theme park attraction prior to Jungle Habitat's four-year run near Greenwood Lake and the subsequent opening of Action Park in Vernon in the 1970s.

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Even in the late 1990s, when Vander Ploeg, her husband and sister-in-law bought the property, the park remained a field trip destination. Dwindling attendance, however, led to its closure in 2005.

The timing of its demise came with the rise of the iPod. Now, the park may just capitalize on a renewed passion for nostalgia.

A happy ever after?

Vander Ploeg said she envisions the refurbished park as a place for artists to come and sketch on days when children are not flooding it on field trips. At night, ice cream could be served at the window to couples on dates, she said.

A grassy field opened by tropical storm damage is fertile ground for a tent to host events, she added.

“We want to make it adult oriented, but keep it wholesome,” said Michael Zachery Vander Ploeg, Vander Ploeg's son.

The park's revival started in 2011, when Vander Ploeg grabbed her grandfather’s tools and set out to restore a failing roadside facade that fronts the family-owned storage center.

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Rotting in the rear and roasting out front, the entire building ended up needing rebuilding in parts, fresh plaster in others and painting all around, Vander Ploeg said.

“I felt bad driving past it every day,” she said.

Vander Ploeg said she did not set out to reopen the park. However, that was that became the goal by June 2015, when she quit her full-time job as an executive administrator for Automated Logic in Clifton. To pay for paint, cement and other supplies, she opened a produce stand across the street

“I thought I could do that and run the produce stand. I thought it would all just fall into place,” she said.

Eventually, running over to the park to paint when customers were scarce became unmanageable. The interior of the park was in some places worse off, with graffiti and broken windows from trespassing vandals in the past.

“The allure of the property is still there,” she said. “It was hard to keep people out, because of its history, but it’s better now.”

Characters, whimsy remain

Though the park has been downsized by the addition of a self-storage facility on the 16-acre property, original handcrafted representations of The Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, and Pinocchio remain.

Seeing the structure behind the pumpkin-shaped house, faux-thatch roofs made of concrete and colorful wooden cottages and the way they were crafted, has been eye-opening, said Paul Woehle, Vander Ploeg’s brother.

Bob Bernet, a Vernon-based contractor, has been involved sporadically with the project for the past four years. The variety of the structures, made of concrete, wood and fiberglass keep the job interesting, he said.

“It’s amazing how the structures were crafted to look old,” he said.

In addition to hand-crafted static displays, the park features mechanical figurines brought from Germany in the 1970s. Push a button and the acrobats in the Three-Ring Circus perform flawlessly.

Vander Ploeg is busy crafting new faces for wire-framed dwarfs, while attempting to line up construction permits for the restaurant.

Fables restaurant coming to park

As with any park, there needs to be food.

A bare space, that currently features a large trench in the floor, the building was set to become an ice cream and concession stand, she said. Now, it's due to become an upscale restaurant run by Christine Nunn, the former chef and owner of the highly-praised but now-closed Picnic in Fair Lawn and Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood.

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“There’s way too much space to just have ice cream,” Vander Ploeg said.

Nunn, an occasional writer for The Record and NorthJersey.com, said the location just seconds from Route 23, is one she often passes on the way to her Sussex County lake house. Nunn said the whimsical venue fits her food.

“The place is amazing,” Nunn said. “But it’s all hidden right now. Nobody knows what’s going on.”

This menu will not be transplanted from Bergen County but will be tailored to the community, with more moderate offerings and a price point to match, Nunn said. She said she is not put off by the failure of a barbecue-focused restaurant when a group leased the roadside building about eight years ago.

“You can open a restaurant in the Theater District of New York and have it bomb if you’re the wrong person. My menus have always been kind of kitschy, whimsical side of fine dining, so we’ll see,” Nunn said.