This lingering recession has affected many businesses, great and small. Among those small businesses are any number of unusual and eccentric tourist spots. Many were vulnerable even before the recession, and a good number will likely be lost during these difficult times.
Prairie Dog Town, near Oakley, Kan., is for sale, with an asking price of $450,000, says its owner, Larry Farmer, who also wants to retire. It comes with 37 billboards advertising the attraction, 400 prairie dogs and – for anyone not sufficiently excited by burrowing rodents – a live, six-legged cow. Deer Forest in Coloma, Mich., is also on the market. The owner, John S. Modica, says he would throw in the llamas and pot-bellied pigs. Dinosaur World, near Beaver Lake in Arkansas, closed five years ago.
“Some of the classic tourist stops have disappeared,”says Doug Kirby, publisher of roadsideamerica.com. Snake farms are in a rut, and mermaid springs are evaporating. When owners decide to retire, there often is no one willing to take over. Even so, Mr. Kirby’s website still lists more than 9,000 attractions and & oddities including the world’s largest hairball in Garden City, Kan., and the Cockroach Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas.
Via For Sale: T. Rex, Good Condition, Wooly Mammoth, Needs Repair – WSJ.com