Fall on the Farm

The quaint park opened in Ellicott City in 1955 and closed in the late 1980s when the aging owners sold it to developers. It reopened briefly in 1994. The cheerful displays grew sad and weathered, standing unattended for years as community groups tried unsuccessfully to save the park, now overshadowed by the Enchanted Forest Shopping Center.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, Martha Clark opened a petting farm on land that has been in her family since the 1930s.

"I loved the idea of opening the farm to the public so children and families from the area would have a chance to interact with animals and enjoy the beautiful scenery," she says of Clark's Elioak Farm.

Two years later, Clark learned that a local real estate agent had obtained and restored the Enchanted Forest's pumpkin coach for a charity auction. Clark contacted the winners and arranged to display the bright orange carriage at the farm.

"The response to our getting the Cinderella pumpkin coach was overwhelming," says Clark, who enjoyed making the piece available to a new generation accompanied by parents who hadn't seen it in years. Inspired, Clark approached Kimco Realty, owner of the shopping center and park, and worked out a deal: She could have any Enchanted Forest pieces free as long as she handled moving arrangements. (They're heavy and awkward to transport because they are made of concrete and fiberglass.)

"Since then, life has been a whirlwind," she says, with friends, volunteers, employees and sponsors not only relocating the structures, but also repairing and restoring them.

In August, the 540-acre farm unveiled the revamped displays during an Enchanted Forest 50th birthday celebration. Now, visitors strolling or taking a hayride around the farm again can see, among other pieces, the big white Mother Goose, a giant birthday cake, the little red schoolhouse, the crooked little house, oversize mice with a cheese-shaped slide and the Easter Bunny's house, a huge "chocolate" egg embellished with painted frosting.

Though Clark doesn't intend to re-create the park, "my ultimate goal is to save as many of the items from the Enchanted Forest as I possibly can," she says.

CLARK'S ELIOAK FARM -- 10500 Clarksville Pike (Route 108), Ellicott City. 410-730-4049.http://www.clarklandfarm.com. Open daily 10 to 4 through Nov. 6; reopens in April. Petting farm admission is $3 ages 13 and older, $4 ages 1 to 12 and free for ages younger than 1. The petting farm features a variety of animals, including an emu and baby goats. Other fall highlights include hayrides, $2, free for ages younger than 1; pumpkin patch visits, fee for pumpkin; pony rides, $2; and a free mini-farm play area, children's jump course, hay bale maze and ride-on tractors. Events include Teddy Bear Farm Visit days this weekend, featuring music by Tony McGuffin from noon to 4, teddy bear contests at 1 and 2:30, and free hayrides for all kids bringing teddy bears.

Aliens Land in Cornfield!

It's the last hayride of the first day of Cox Farms' 33rd annual Fall Festival, and driver Lucas Cox wants to hear enthusiasm.

"Are you all ready for a real fun, good hayride?" he shouts from the tractor seat, and a chorus of voices answers, "Yeah!" from two attached wagons. Grinning, he steers the vehicle onto a path that, for the next 20 minutes, will guide visitors on a twisting journey through pasture and cornfield and past a pond. The travelers must shout out a countdown as the wagons pass posted numbers, 10 through 1, and then they have to get beyond the aliens.

"Each year we try to come up with something new or different," Eric Cox says of the hayrides, among the most popular activities at the autumn extravaganza at the farm he and wife Gina own in Centreville. "The spaceship, I think that was my wife's idea," Cox says of the silver flying saucer that debuted a few years ago and proved a huge success. "The actors come out and high-five the kids and sometimes do a little dance."