Yes, NC once had a ‘Wizard of Oz’ theme park. It will reopen soon for just 3 weekends.

Every year in September, the ski slopes on Beech Mountain transform into a fantasy-land of munchkins and winged monkeys, resurrecting North Carolina’s mythical Land of Oz theme park.

Fans of a certain age will recall the 1970s curiosity, with its trail of 40,000 yellow bricks, hot-air balloon rides and a museum holding Dorothy’s original blue gingham dress from “The Wizard of Oz.”

And while that version of Land of Oz went bankrupt, partially burned down and finally closed in 1980, it now reopens each fall for a wizard-packed revival — notably for three weekends this September .

‘Largest Oz festival in the world’

Billing itself as the “largest Oz festival in the world,” Autumn at Oz pulls what remains of the original “Wizard of Oz” park into an immersive day that, for a $60 ticket , invites fans to follow Dorothy’s steps from cyclone at the Gale family farm down a reconstructed yellow-brick path.

Live scarecrows, tin men, lions and witches appear on the mountaintop park and recreate the wizard wish-granting scene onstage. An extra $6.50 gets fans into the scenic overlook at Beech Mountain’s 5,500-foot summit.

But for many, a trip to the Land of Oz excites more for the memory of what was than what now lies down the yellow path.

When it opened in 1970, the park cost the equivalent of nearly $40 million to construct, built mainly to keep Beech Mountain ski employees busy in the off-season.

In its first year, the park drew a whopping 400,000 people to the remote corner of North Carolina near Banner Elk, where they gawked at giant mushrooms, waterfalls, cages full of toucans, hot air balloons from the Kansas State Fair and a real Emerald City.

‘That $1,000 piece of gingham’

A museum at the theme park held one of the dresses Judy Garland wore in the 1939 movie, obtained at an MGM auction, described by a then-PR-staffer, better known now as U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, as “that $1,000 piece of gingham.”

The original cast at the park consisted of nine Dorothys, four scarecrows, four tin men, four witches and five cowardly lions — an extra considering the lions wore the most cumbersome costume and spent down-time in a cave.

But dwindling attendance and unpaid creditors forced the then-owners of the Land of Oz to file bankruptcy in 1975, and a court-appointed trustee shut the park soon after.

At the end of that year, both looters and fire struck Land of Oz, destroying Emerald City. Police told reporters in 1976 that both Dorothy’s dress and the coat worn by the movie’s Emerald City gatekeeper had been “cleared out.”

The park limped on until 1980, when it closed for good.

Tickets selling fast for September weekends

But after more than a decade, the Land of Oz started reopening for fall weekends. And it started drawing back crowds that were more like its early years. Organizers report tickets are 70% sold out for this September.

The hot air balloon ride is gone, as is the original Emerald City, and some of those 40,000 bricks were missing by the time they were unearthed.

But the recreated cyclone still happens, and visitors still emerge from Dorothy’s farmhouse post-tornado to find a wicked witch’s feet protruding from the wreckage.

And in the end, ruby slippers or not, everybody gets to go home.

Autumn at Oz

Where : 1 Yellow Brick Road, Beech Mountain, NC

When : Sept. 6-8, Sept. 13-15, Sept. 20-22

Tickets: $60 general admission, $6.50 for overlook. Click https://landofoznc.com/buy-tickets/