Knott’s Wins First Governor’s Tourism Award
- Share via
Closer to home, hats off to Knott’s Berry Farm for winning the first-ever Governor’s Tourism Award, presented to the chicken champs at this year’s California Conference on Tourism.
The honor is the tourism version of a lifetime achievement award. After all, Walter and Cordelia Knott were wowing crowds with their chicken dinners and Wild West entertainment when Mickey Mouse was still in short pants.
“It’s fitting that it went to America’s first theme park,” said Knott’s spokesman Bob Ochsner. “We’re very pleased.”
Knott’s also won kudos for Best Video or Multimedia Production at the February awards ceremony for its “What’s Cookin’ ” promotional spot geared to tourism wholesalers. The 60-second video plays off Knott’s tasty beginnings as a berry patch/restaurant and shows how the family added to the menu, so to speak, building an Orange County farm into an international destination.
Speaking of international, Knott’s just opened Snoopy’s Holiday House, a welcome center for Japanese tour groups at the park. Knott’s recently cemented a deal with one of Japan’s largest tourism wholesalers, an arrangement that promises to bring thousands of new visitors annually to see what’s cookin’ in Buena Park.
*
Marla Dickerson covers tourism for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5670 and at [email protected].
Sign up for The Wild
We’ll help you find the best places to hike, bike and run, as well as the perfect silent spots for meditation and yoga.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
