Fantasy Gardens, also known as Fantasy Garden World, was a former amusement park in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a coastal city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. It occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough), between the two estuarine distributaries of the Fraser River. Encompassing the ad ...

that was located at the corner of Steveston Highway and No. 5 Road. The park was called Fantasy Gardens because it was surrounded by a series of stone buildings that were designed to resemble structures built during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The buildings had been used as a backdrop in numerous music videos, television productions, and movies (it stood in for Halloweentown in '' Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge''). Behind the stone buildings were the Biblical Gardens. These gardens were filled with numerous religious icons, including a hedge that had been carved into the shape of a

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

History

As garden centre

Fantasy Gardens was home to a massive plant store in the Art Knapp's chain, owned by Frank Van Hest (1932-2005) in 1965.

Bill Vander Zalm William Nicholas Vander Zalm (born Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie van der Zalm; May 29, 1934) is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 28th premier of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991. Early life Wilhelmus Ni ...

's son Wim owned several other stores in the Art Knapp's chain. Many people visited the store to get a glimpse of its turtle-filled pond. This plant store closed its location at Fantasy Gardens, moving to a vacant nursery one mile west along Alderbridge Way and Minoru Boulevard. The Art Knapp's Nursery stores were founded by Arthur William Knapp, a longtime resident of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

As amusement park

During the 1970s and early 1990s, there was a small-scale amusement park at Fantasy Gardens. The biggest attraction was a miniature railroad that visitors could ride throughout the park and the gardens. When the fair closed down, most of the miniature railroad tracks were ripped up. Before being closed, this miniature railroad was filmed and it appeared in ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

'' episode "The Calusari." In 1984, the gardens were bought by

, who established the Christian theme of much of the park. Then a provincial MLA, Vander Zalm went on to be

Premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. His later sale of the park led to charges of conflict of interest, which in turn led to his resignation in 1991 and the defeat of the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

government.

Decline, closure and residential re-development

Vander Zalm sold the property in the early 1990s to Chinese-born Filipino-Taiwanese businessman

Tan Yu Tan Yu (; 5 April 1927 – 12 March 2002) was a Chinese-Filipino philanthropist and businessman who founded the Asiaworld Internationale Group and established the KTTI Foundation, which provided scholarships to and supported the education o ...

for $16 million, whose AsiaWorld then sold it to local developer firm Townline in 2007 that redeveloped into retail property named ''The Gardens''. On 7 September 2010, Fantasy Gardens was torn down, but the Dutch Castle, now a community landmark, was saved. The castle is a replica of Coevorden Castle, possibly the ancestral home of

Captain George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

in the Netherlands. The castle was donated to the people of Vancouver by the city of

Coevorden Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In Augu ...

for

Expo 86 The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicatio ...

. The castle was used as sales centre for the Gardens, a planned residential development. The southern portion is now a condo complex with a

Loblaws Loblaws Inc. is a Canadian supermarket chain with stores located in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Loblaws is a subsidiary of Loblaw Companies Limited, C ...

supermarket, but the former amusement park will become a 12 acres public park for the further residential buildings. The former Dutch/Coevorden Castle will become a

City of Richmond The City of Richmond was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1855 until 1994. History Richmond was incorporated as a municipality on 24 Ap ...

-owned day care centre.

Filming on site

The site was also used as the primary set of the " Revisions" episode of the TV series ''

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'', the " Irresponsible" episode of ''

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'', the "Monster Movie" episode of ''

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

'' and in the episodes "Shadows" and "Blackmail" episodes from '' Highlander: The Series''. It was also featured in the ''

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'' episode "Into The Mystic", the ''

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observ ...

'' episode "Christmas Joy" and the movie ''

I'll Be Home for Christmas "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longed ...

'' as well as '' The Boy Who Cried Werewolf''.

Gallery

Image:Fg-windmill1.jpg, The windmill entrance Image:Fg-windmill2.jpg, Another angle of the windmill Image:Fg-drawbridge.jpg, The drawbridge entrance Image:Fg-artknapp.jpg, The plant store at Fantasy Gardens

References

External links

{{Commons category
Chronology: Fantasy Gardens and Bill Vander Zalm
Vancouver Sun Sept 1991

Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada: Closed Canadian Parks Buildings and structures in Richmond, British Columbia British Columbia political scandals Demolished buildings and structures in British Columbia Defunct amusement parks in Canada 2010 disestablishments in British Columbia Amusement parks closed in 2010