Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Jellystone Park: the Early Years Part 2

As my blog post from a few days ago noted, Yogi Bear was popular enough in the early 1960s (thanks to his TV show) to be a featured performer at the 1961 Ohio State Fair.

Well when the fair ended, the smarter-than-the-average bear was apparently hard at work coming up with a scheme to launch his own campground empire later in the 1960s – Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp - Resort.

Since I have enjoyed camping at many of the different Jellystone Parks over the years, I devoted a post to the early years of the campground empire back here in 2017. The post featured a variety of vintage postcards and brochures. as well as a few ads.

This post noted how the Journal occasionally ran a small ad in the early 1970s designed to attract potential franchisees. I also pointed out how my present home city of Vermilion was slated to have its own Jellystone Park campground/resort.

Anyway, a few years ago I did a little research as to how the Yogi Bear Jellystone Park Camp - Resort chain launch played out in the newspapers. I collected a lot of articles and ads aimed at both campers and investors, and present them here in chronological order. It's interesting to see how the park's advertising evolved during its early years.

The very first Jellystone Park opened in Door County in Wisconsin. A few teaser ads ran before the official opening in July 1969, and the opening itself was covered by the media. 

A few of the renderings of Yogi are downright unbearable.


Capital Times, May 12, 1969
Capital Times, May 19, 1969
Post Crescent, May 19, 1969
Manitowoc Herald-Times, July 3, 1969
The Sheboygan Press, July 17, 1969
Green Bay Press Gazette, July 17, 1969
Green Bay Press Gazette, July 22, 1969
Rapid City Journal, October 26, 1969
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 7, 1969

By 1970, feature articles were being written about the unique campground chain.

Green Bay Press Gazette, June 7, 1970
Star Tribune, Aug. 30, 1970
Progress Bulletin, Dec. 12, 1970
The year 1971 featured a variety of ads – some aimed at campers, some at investors.

Orlando Sentinel, April 9, 1971
Minneapolis Star, July 5, 1971
Star Tribune, July 29, 1971
Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 24, 1971
Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 2, 1971

Philadelphia Enquirer, Nov. 7, 1971
More ads and articles ran in 1972.

Journal Times, Feb. 29, 1972
Indianapolis Star Sun, April 16, 1972
Redlands Daily Facts, June 12, 1972
Los Angeles Times, July 20, 1972
The year 1973 saw publicity for the proposed Vermilion, Ohio Jellystone Park. And Western movie and TV actor Andy Devine was featured in ads for Jellystone Park with a different approach: selling the actual campground sites. 

Lorain Journal, Aug. 20, 1973
The Daily Mail, Aug. 24, 1973
Baltimore Sun, Oct. 6, 1973
The year 1974 saw another plug for the Vermilion Jellystone Park, as well as ads showing proposed park layouts.
The Times, March 23, 1974
Baltimore Sun, April 5, 1974
Lorain Journal, July 1, 1974
Kokomo Tribune, Sept. 20, 1974
Finally, here are some later 1970s ads and articles. The park system was still attempting to get people to purchase campsites, but that idea was eventually dropped.
The Orlando Sentinel, May 25, 1975
The Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 8, 1975
Baltimore Sun, August 14, 1976
Here's a much later ad for the original Jellystone Park in Door County, Wisconsin. It's still there today!
Fond Du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, Aug. 29, 1996
By the 2000s, the chain was well-established and still growing. This article (below) about the award-winning Niagara Falls campground provides a nice capsule history. I'm sentimental about this specific park, because it was the first place I camped at as an adult after not having camped for decades.
National Post, May 2, 2003

Here is the link to the Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp - Resort website.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Dan. I've seen these campgrounds and wondered about their genesis. I myself haven't been camping for 50 years and don't remember much about the experience.

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  2. That's one big bunch of stolen pick-i-nik baskets, right there.

    Pretty cool seeing things evolve.

    I think we used to pass one on the way to Chicago, along the Indiana Thruway. I don't remember seeing it the last time along there.

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