Fabulous Farmer: The Story of Walter Knott and His Berry Farm

by Roger Holmes, Paul Bailey

TWENTY MILLION people have walked the acres of Knott’s Berry Farm at Buena Park, California. Its chicken dinners, its wild west atmosphere, its “Ghost Town,” are familiarly known to travellers from every part of the world. Less known, perhaps, is the remarkable story of Walter Knott and his family, who have built their strange enterprise into one of the wonder of the west.

Here is the story of how a once penniless sharecropper parlayed ten acres of berries into a farm of golden wonders. How a chicken dinner became a national institution, ad how boysenberries, both in an out of pies, became the means of assembling on hundred acres of historical marvels that have delighted and amused the Farm’s millions of visitors.

FABULOUS FARMER is the tale of how one man turned poverty and adversity into dazzling success. It is a story of free American enterprise with odd and new twists. It is an inspiring, human recital of a family whose teamwork, thrift and industry fought through every hardship and crisis until success was theirs. Through its candid, exciting pages breathes the same warmth and friendliness that is so deeply senses by every visitor to the Farm.

FABULOUS FARMER is as typically American as Mrs. Knott’s berry pies and fried chicken. It is a joyful, rewarding book that builds courage and faith in its readers, and a book every American will want to read as tonic for his own fears, and antidote for anything that might water down his faith in the future and his belief in himself.

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 13, 2019

Reviews

[John Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fantastic life story of a young man and his American Dream and one to inspire pride in his nation and philosophy.

Pulling himself up by his bootstraps, prepared to work his butt off to achieve his goal – his own piece of land and dwelling; add to that the common touch and an awareness of what the public wants he created his own ‘popular’ empire. The empire, and its creators Walter Knott and his wife Cordelia, thus became national treasures. This was all quite heart-warming but I got a bit tired of all the author’s sycophancy, which tended to be repetitive.

[gracetwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

I enjoyed reading about Walter Knott and family, and how the Berry Farm started. And Walter Knott returning to his roots at Calico Ghost Town for a time to give it new life.

[John Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Knott’s history

Fantastic easy read detailing the Knott’s. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Knott’s Berry Farm, the old west, Calico, etc. Inspirational, too! Read it.