Paul Bunyan Land may have moved locations since its opening in 1950, but the amusement park's draw remains the same with a large animatronic Paul Bunyan welcoming guests.
The 26-foot-tall talking Paul Bunyan welcomes visitors to Paul Bunyan Land on Monday, July 8, 2024. Paul greets children by name and has done so since 1950.
BRAINERD — Siblings Al Rademacher and Lois Moon never planned on owning an amusement park.
But now it’s their full-time job.
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When Rademacher heard Paul Bunyan Land was for sale in 2003, he spoke with then-owner Don McFarland about purchasing a train on the property and a building for his dad’s pioneer village.
What he came away with was an entire amusement park.
“When I walked out of there that day, it was like I pretty much bought the whole thing,” Rademacher said.
And then he roped his sister in with him.
“It happened so quick, honestly,” Moon said.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, the siblings were co-owners of Paul Bunyan Land, a well-known amusement park then located in Baxter, where Kohl’s department store now stands. They didn’t quite know what they were getting into, but they did it anyway.
“I always quote my dad saying we were never told that we can’t do something,” Moon said. “Our first question is always, ‘How are we going to do it?’”
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Lois Moon, co-owner of Paul Bunyan Land, talks about the amusement park and pioneer village on Monday, July 8, 2024.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
When McFarland decided to sell Paul Bunyan Land, all the various pieces were set to go in different directions, including the iconic Paul Bunyan statue and his trusty blue ox, Babe.
“Part of it was saving it for the area,” Moon said. “Literally, Paul was going somewhere, Babe was going somewhere, the rides were getting split up. And that was very close to happening.”
The 26-foot-tall animatronic Paul Bunyan has welcomed generations to the Brainerd lakes area. It’s a summer tradition, watching those mouths fall open with shock and squeals of delight — or occasionally dismay — when the low voice of that giant lumberjack greets kids by name.
He said my name, and I was never scared. I was just stunned, how he knew it.
Hans
Instead of seeing Paul and his various amusement park amenities split up and shipped out all over the place, Rademacher and Moon moved everything to their family’s property east of Brainerd on County Road 18, merging it with This Old Farm. Thus began Chapter 2 in the park’s history. Paul and the amusement side of the business date back to 1950, but for the past 20 years, visitors have been able to glimpse items much, much older.
This Old Farm Pioneer Village
A separate venture started by their father, Dick Rademacher, This Old Farm is an assortment of old buildings, combined with Dick’s penchant for collecting. Today, it’s known as the Pioneer Village at Paul Bunyan Land and boasts 40 old-fashioned buildings housing Dick’s vast amount of collectibles. Locales include a post office, school house, newspaper office, saloon, sawmill and a church where family weddings have taken place. Paul’s Petting Barn attracts the animal-lovers, with goats, ducks, chickens and other animals to feed and pet.
This Old Farm started back in the 1970s as a venture of Dick Rademacher, father of current Paul Bunyan Land owners Al Rademacher and Lois Moon. Dick Rademacher's many antique collectibles are on display for viewing.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
There’s even a few standout buildings, including the depot from 1994 Disney movie “Iron Will,” along with the oldest homestead in Brainerd, that used to stand where the Brainerd Family YMCA now sits.
The original barn and farmhouse sit on the property, too, and future plans include revamping the barn into a space to host dances or other events.
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More buildings are added to the Pioneer Village every year to accommodate the growing collection of items.
A walk through the village will transport visitors through time and space, as they see what it might have been like to sit in a doctor’s office, drink at the saloon, deposit their money or attend class in a one-room schoolhouse as their ancestors did centuries ago.
Rad’s Groceries — Lunches — Confectionary still stands in the original building and with the original sign as when Ralph and Minnie Rademacher ran it as a business in the 1930s near where The Harbor on Crescent Bay sits today off South Long Lake. After learning the building was going to be torn down, Rademacher and Moon arranged for it to be moved to their Pioneer Village, not wanting to part with a precious piece of their grandparents. The building doubled as the family house for a long time, and they recall stories of their dad as a young entrepreneur, biking around the nearby lake to collect and swell worms.
“It would have meant nothing to anybody else,” Moon said of the building. “But to us it meant a lot.”
Old-fashioned porcelain dolls, train sets, ships, buggies and so many, many more antique collectibles draw the eye in the various buildings. Historic Brainerd artifacts line the shelves, too, including paraphernalia from the old Paramount Theatre.
Old trains and other trinkets line one of the buildings of This Old Farm at Paul Bunyan Land on Monday, July 8, 2024.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
“Sometimes it’s not the age of something, but it’s the uniqueness,” Moon said.
A shed stands full of classic cars, including the Model A bought decades ago by Dick Rademacher and his father, Ralph. There’s a golf cart that belonged to Muriel Humphrey, wife of Minnesota Sen. and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. And in the same automotive vein, old gas pumps line one of the buildings, advertising gas prices at mere pennies per gallon.
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A lot has changed since the times that are preserved in the Pioneer Village, and so much about Paul Bunyan Land itself is different, too.
But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed. The park’s namesake remains the focal point.
The man, the myth, the legend
After serving as the main attraction at the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 and 1949, the giant Paul Bunyan was purchased by two Brainerd businessmen and moved to the original location of Paul Bunyan Land — at the intersection of highways 371 and 210 in Baxter. He began attracting visitors to the amusement park in 1950 and still takes that job seriously today, nearly 75 years later.
With a voice as big as Paul’s comes equally big responsibility.
No one knows that better than Hans and Virgil, the current voices of Paul.
“Voicing a character such as Paul and being able to entertain the public is quite the honor,” Virgil said during a phone interview.
Opting only to be referred to by their first names, the duo trade off giving the giant lumberjack that iconic booming voice. Those who listen closely will hear a slight Canadian accent, eh? That’s done on purpose to pay homage to Paul’s Franco-American ancestry.
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“Paul Bunyan was an amalgamism of two Canadian lumberjacks,” Hans explained. “And I believe that tales of Paul Bunyan started in the French-Canadian logging camps.”
A child gets his photo taken on Paul Bunyan's boot on Monday, July 8, 2024.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
Today the legend has grown to one of giant proportions — pun intended — making Paul Bunyan the Mickey Mouse of the North, a summertime Santa, watching closely to see if kids are naughty or nice. It’s another big job that comes with the voice.
“I love entertaining the public and being a teacher to children, reminding them that obedient children are rewarded,” Hans said. “And that’s why Santa Claus rewards nice children with Christmas presents, or Babe the Blue Ox gets a sugar lump when he’s nice.” Perhaps most importantly, Hans likes to remind kids that “mother knows best.”
“All mothers like that one,” he said.
When Paul isn’t welcoming kids to the park or reminding them to be on their best behavior, he’s likely doing one of his all-time favorite things — singing.
“Paul is not only the world’s largest talking animated man, he loves to sing as well,” Hans said. “I have sung many children’s songs, including his favorite, ‘Pop Goes the Weasel.’”
And if a child ever calls Paul “creepy,” which happens from time to time, he’ll have a little fun by singing the theme song from “The Addams Family.”
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Hans began talking and singing as Paul nine years ago and boasts over 4,000 hours of experience.
He recalls running into Paul himself as a youngster, after his family moved up to the lakes area from the Twin Cities in 1981.
Babe the Blue Ox stands at the entrance of Paul Bunyan Land on Monday, July 8, 2024.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
“He said my name, and I was never scared. I was just stunned, how he knew it,” Hans said.
He went back to visit Paul on several occasions and was even present in Baxter on closing day in 2003, standing next to Don McFarland when the first chapter of Paul Bunyan Land closed.
Then in 2015, Hans traipsed over to Paul Bunyan Land with his dad, hoping to find work mowing the grass at the amusement park.
But in a twist of fate, there was only one job open — the voice of Paul.
“I rubbed my chin and said, ‘Hmm, maybe I could do that,’” Hans said. “And Lois looked at me, and her jaw dropped. She pointed and said, ‘Perfect.’”
It wasn’t planned, but it was clearly meant to be, with Hans now serving as the longest voice of Paul at the current amusement park location.
Virgil vaguely remembers Paul at the first amusement park location, being about 3 or 4 years old when everything was in Baxter.
“I was just a little shy, but I remember I pretty much warmed up to him pretty quickly and everything,” Virgil said. “... It was one of the things that helped me get acquainted with Paul Bunyan as a whole.”
He started working at Paul Bunyan Land as a ride operator in 2016. When he showed an interest in voicing Paul, he learned the job was already covered.
It just wasn’t meant to be — yet.
Partway through the 2018 season, though, a second voice for Paul was wanted.
“And the first guy that came to my mind was my buddy Virgil,” Hans said.
A Paul Bunyan-sized tricycle and wagon sit at Paul Bunyan Land on Monday, July 8, 2024.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
Hans trained Virgil in the art of voicing Paul. And it helped that the two already had similar-sounding voices.
Moon said she even struggles to tell the difference sometimes when listening to Paul.
Virgil officially started in 2019, taking the morning shift for Paul, while Hans fills in the afternoon.
Now, the two voices are best friends, able to bounce ideas off one another when needed.
And they never forget the other friend who made all of it possible.
Dick Rademacher died in April 2024, but his legacy lives on in the 160 acres of farmland he gave for Paul Bunyan Land and This Old Farm Pioneer Village.
“We must always remember that, thanks to Dick giving his family some land for Paul Bunyan Land to be built on, Paul and Babe could stay in the Brainerd area, where they remain to this day,” Hans said, reiterating the speech he gave at Dick’s funeral.
“Without Dick, there wouldn’t be a Paul Bunyan Land,” he added. “And we wouldn’t have a job voicing Paul.”
And so many people wouldn’t have the memories they do.
Families out at Paul Bunyan Land Monday, July 8, drove bumper cars, climbed the rock wall, ate ice cream and discovered all the amusement park had to offer.
It’s not only the visitors who come back to the park year after year with their families, though. It’s the employees, too.
Jackie Larson has done just about every job available at Paul Bunyan Land over the past nine years, from retail to rides to cook to park manager. Now she works on the marketing side of the business in the summer while she’s not teaching. Her dad brought her to the park as a kid after he, himself, had worked there in his teenage years. She eventually found the same enjoyment in that kind of employment.
Jackie Larson, who works in marketing for Paul Bunyan Land, talks on Monday, July 8, 2024, about the many jobs she's had at the park.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
“I love working for the Rademacher family,” Larson said. “They really do make this a full family operation with their employees and with their guests. … I just like getting to help make those memories, seeing the smiles on those kids’ faces.”
And perhaps Larson’s own daughter will follow in her mom and grandpa’s footsteps, finding a job at Paul Bunyan Land when she’s old enough.
Park Manager Wendy Kasper doesn’t have to wait to share the experience with the younger generations in her family. She and her two granddaughters came to the park together looking for work, and all three of them love it.
Kasper recalls working for the old park back when it was in Baxter, too, and now continues her family’s tradition at the Brainerd location.
Wendy Kasper, park manager at Paul Bunyan Land, talks on Monday, July 8, 2024, about working at the park with her granddaughters.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
“It’s amazing that it’s still up and running,” she said.
And that’s thanks to Rademacher and Moon and all the work they’ve put into the business over the past 21 years.
Paul Bunyan Land reopened in Brainerd Memorial Day weekend in 2004, not missing a single season when changing ownership. At that time, Moon and Rademacher both already had full-time jobs. Moon was a teacher’s aide, and Rademacher worked at Shannon’s Auto Body. Up until about six years ago, Rademacher still worked elsewhere in the winter, but now it’s hard to even do that with their commitment to Paul Bunyan Land. There are rides to rebuild and maintenance projects to keep up with.
“We are not the owners that spend six months down south,” Moon said. “... That’s when we do our maintenance. We are over here painting a building or building this or making that. We do it ourselves.”
1/5: Paul Bunyan Land Co-owner Al Rademacher shows a golf cart that once belonged to Muriel Humphrey, wife of former Sen. and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, on Monday, July 8, 2024.Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
2/5: Al Rademacher, co-owner of Paul Bunyan Land, talks about his family's history with the business on Monday, July 8, 2024.Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
3/5: A family takes a break from the attractions at Paul Bunyan Land to pose for a photo on Monday, July 8, 2024.Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
4/5: A spooky figure walks along a path through “the swamp” Saturday, a section of Hidden Hollows at Paul Bunyan Land that leads to the haunted corn maze.Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch
5/5: Paul Bunyan's footprints are still visible Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at the Kohl's parking lot in Baxter.Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch
It’s something they have to live and breathe in order to keep succeeding.
“It has to be your passion,” Moon said. “We just never stopped.”
And they don’t have plans to do so anytime soon.
They’ve updated the concessions area, added a 32-site campground in 2019, and, of course, there are the fall festivities. While the Paul Bunyan Land amusement park and Pioneer Village are open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day another big event takes place in October. Things turn dark the last three Fridays and Saturdays of the month, and Hidden Hollows emerges.
Rides are one attraction at the Paul Bunyan Land amusement park.
Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch
A haunted house and corn maze emerge on the property, scaring all the daring visitors since 1998. Planning for the holiday is a year-round task, as they look to up their game every year with new scary attractions.
“People come, and they have high expectations for us,” Moon said.
But those expectations don’t stop in the summer either. While it might be a different crowd looking for some good, family fun instead of a spine-chilling scare, the expectations are still there for a top-notch experience that keeps them coming back year after year.
“It’s the memories that they create that day,” Moon said. “If grandma and grandpa, mom and dad are with them, it’s a memory day.”
For Rademacher, it’s the place’s already well-known and long-established history that keeps it going today.
“Generations of people knowing what’s here, generations of people talking to Paul,” he said.
And generations of Paul talking back.
As Hans puts it: “With a big voice, comes big responsibility.”
Paul Bunyan Land
City: Brainerd.
Number of employees: 45-50 during the summer season.
Interesting fact: Paul Bunyan’s footprints from the original Paul Bunyan location are still visible in the parking lot at Kohl’s.
THERESA BOURKE may be reached at [email protected] or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa.
Theresa Bourke started working at the Dispatch in July 2018, covering Brainerd city government and area education, including Brainerd Public Schools and Central Lakes College.
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