Never Never Land was a children's theme park located inside Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington. The park entrance was a book arbor topped with a huge Humpty Dumpty. The park delighted generations of local residence and out of town guests. The winding paths led through the forested area to display different iconic character scenes. There was a second park, Wooded Wonderland in Victoria with many of the same scenes and characters.
The characters were designed by Elek Imredy. Most known for his sculpture, Girl in a Wetsuit, of a mermaid. Over the years many of the characters were re-painted by groups including a local Boy Scouts group.
In 2012 the family that was key in the vision, funding and design, as well as the operating directors of Never Never Land, inside Point Defiance Park, made the decision to sell the remaining characters they owned. These characters had been stored in "Tacoma's rumored and famed Underground." They worked with Ron Adamson of Broadway's Best Antiques to place the pieces into private collections. During this process I had the opportunity to photograph each character before they made it to their new owners. I am forever thankful to Ron for facilitating this undertaking. Each of the characters in the book are from this collection.
In 2021 Metro Parks sold the remaining characters in an auction. All of those characters are also now in private hands.
This book shares an image of 18 of the characters paired with a nursery rhyme or story line on the opposite page. The book measures 6"x 6" and has a hard cover.
This first printing is a very limited run of 65 editions.
A second printing is pending.