Off to See the Wizard

People in Chittenango, N.Y., aren’t joking when they tell you to follow the yellow brick road. They’re no less serious when they say they’ve just seen the Tin Man, picked a few things out of Dorothy’s Basket, or had a sundae at Oz Cream.

Few among Chittenango’s 4,855 residents remain unaware of their village’s most famous son, L. Frank Baum, whose novel The Wizard of Oz is now securely fixed in that same American firmament as baseball and Marilyn Monroe—and the marks of his imagination are literally beneath their feet. The sidewalks of Genesse Street, Chittenango’s main thoroughfare, have been painted yellow since the 1970s. It’s one of many ways the village honors Baum. Born here in 1856, he’s remembered with a museum, an annual spring festival, and at least half a dozen Oz-inflected businesses.

“The Baum connection is of major importance,” says Mayor Bob Freunscht, who has watched the celebration of Baum’s imaginative legacy grow every year. “It’s become quite a tourism draw for the community.”

Baum spent his early childhood in Chittenango, a 19th-century town whose name means “water that runs north” in the American Indian tongue. Nestled among the village storefronts is the L. Frank Baum-Oz Museum, a growing repository of books, documents, and Oz paraphernalia commemorating the author and his reach into American pop culture. It’s a busy place during Oz Fest, the village’s biggest annual event.

“During the festival, we probably draw between 15,000 to 20,000 people,” Freunscht says. The four-day celebration of all things Oz, includes a costume contest, parade, golf tournament, and carnival. At the center of it are the Munchkins—a handful of surviving cast members from the classic The Wizard of Oz film who return each year to reminisce and bask in the glory of fans of every age.

“People follow the Munchkins like groupies,” says Maureen Constance, an Oz Fest organizer, who notes the festival has become a fixture on the national “Oz circuit” of Baum and Oz-inspired events. Most look forward to the panel discussions and autograph sessions with the Munchkin actors, and Constance says the festival’s buzz spills over to benefit many businesses.

While the Tin Man (a local contracting business) and Scarecrow Computers don’t see much of a spike in business during the brief Oz season, Steve Bonaparte knows he’s not in Kansas anymore when the festival kicks in the first weekend in June. That’s when his Oz Cream dessert shop does extra traffic in Toto cones and wizard shakes, and Judy Garland takes up residence on the shop’s television screen in continuous showings of the 1939 film.

Bonapart’s shop holds a collection of Oz memorabilia, but nothing rivals the Baum museum’s prize holding. “We have first edition copies of all 14 of his original books,” says Curt Tobin, the museum’s president. Personal Baum memorabilia has proved more elusive, though a family genealogy and other information is being compiled.

Clara Houck helps provide that material. Known among local Oz enthusiasts as the area’s authority on Baum, she was among the early proponents for a Baum-Oz museum. But echoing others in town, she says her pride in Chittenango has always been foremost in driving her interest in Baum.

“I just love the enthusiasm people have for a hometown boy.”

Michael Depp is a regular contributer to American Profile.

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