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.

A Smarter-than-the-Average Investment – July 1973

For many years, the Journal published a page of business ads once a week under the banner, "Business & Industry Review" or something similar. It was some sort of package deal, with certain advertisers receiving a short, promotional article (often with a photo) masquerading as regular content of the newspaper. I've featured one or two of these pages over the years. They're fun to look at.

And here's another one (above) from the July 16, 1973 Journal. This one is of special interest to me because it includes a short article extolling the benefits of investing in a Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp - Resort franchise in Ohio. Of course, there's an ad (below) accompanying the article.

What's really interesting to me is that there was a Jellystone Park resort planned for my current town of Vermilion! As the article notes, "The first of the nationally developed camp-resorts will begin operation around April 1, 1974 along the Vermilion River.

"Heated swimming pools, a mini-golf course, large playground sites, markets, larger-than-life replicas of Yogi and his pals and outdoor sports are featured at the resorts.

"The Vermilion development of 50 acres will cost $500,000 to construct and will provide an abundance of return for investors who don't want to be left out in the woods.

"Vacationers can avoid boo-boos and phone ahead toll free to already rollicking camp resorts coast-to-coast at 800-558-2954."

I'm sure trying to convince investors to buy into this campground caper was no pic-a-nic. But today, Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts are still thriving and growing. Hey-hey-hey! 

I've camped at Jellystone Parks all over Canada, as well as in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Interestingly, the 1319 West Erie Avenue address for Recreational Investment Co. is today the home of the Council of Lorain County Veterans, the little building next to "Big V" park. 

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I did a whole post on the early days of Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts back here.

Jellystone Park: the Early Years

Although I haven’t been camping for a couple years, I’ll go again at some point in the future. And when I do, it’ll probably be at my favorite chain of campgrounds: Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts. (I’ve mentioned Yogi Bear many times on this blog, including when he visited the Hills Dept. Store in Lorain with his old pal Huckleberry Hound.)

I’ve stayed at quite a few Jellystone locations over the years in the U. S. and Canada, including Mill Run, Pennsylvania; Niagara Falls, Ontario; and the one outside Toronto.

Locally, there was a Jellystone Park out on U. S. Route 20 just outside of Bellevue back in the 1990s, but I never camped there.

We never camped at a Jellystone Park when I was a kid, either. My parents usually looked for a K.O.A. or private campground instead. So that’s probably why I enjoy going to Jellystone now. I’m just a kid at heart.

I still remember seeing the small ads in the Journal during the early 1970s, looking for Jellystone Park investors. I even sent away for a campground directory, and brochures from specific parks. They all featured the drawing of Yogi shown at right.

It’s interesting today to look at some of these early promotional materials.

The early postcards are fun to look at. Then – as now– the parks had a huge statue of Yogi Bear out front.

Some of the postcards show the great cartoony signs that used to be out by the highway near each park.

Best of all are the postcards showing Yogi himself. Back in the early days of the campground chain, the costumes were seemingly homemade. They eventually started looking a little more bear-able.

Although the artwork now used to promote Jellystone Park is first-rate, many of the early promotional illustrations of the smarter-than-the-average bear were lousier-than-the-average. But these off-model efforts still had a wacky charm.

This postcard featured a gluttonous Boo Boo Bear.

A variety of Yogi Bear merchandise was – and still is – sold at the parks. Here’s a photo from what was likely an early franchise brochure (courtesy of yowpyowp.blogspot.com) showing all the goodies that were available.

To learn more about the history of Jellystone Parks, click here. Meanwhile, here are some vintage Ohio newspaper ads.

December 12, 1971 ad from the Plain Dealer

June 18, 1973 ad from the Lorain Journal

March 20, 1980 ad from the Plain Dealer

July 25, 1980 Plain Dealer ad