As two Mall of America workers pushed Snoopy's doghouse on a dolly toward the exits Wednesday afternoon, the cold reality hit Holly Johnson.

"Oh, this is so sad," she moaned. "That was the kind of thing I was hoping I wouldn't see!"

At 38, Johnson of Minneapolis may have been among the oldest of the Snoopy and Peanuts fans who came to mark Wednesday's leave-no-trace closing of Camp Snoopy, the mall's signature feature since its opening in 1992. She also was the one to articulate what it meant to lose the moniker of the dog created by St. Paulite Charles Schulz. "It's terrible," Johnson said. "It's like a part of Minnesota is gone. It's terribly sad."

As a result of a licensing dispute between the mall and United Media, which controls the rights to the Peanuts brand, Camp Snoopy was to be erased from the Twin Cities' retail and entertainment landscape Wednesday.

The large Snoopy that has dominated the amusement park at the mall's heart was to be deflated and removed after the mall's closing.

Items with specific Peanuts or Snoopy labeling or connections, such as benches and small figures, were also to be eliminated. The bouncing cage beneath the inflated Snoopy will continue to operate without its mascot, and the Red Baron airplane ride will also survive without any Peanuts identifiers; Snoopy's dish, which is a fountain and handy meeting place, will have his name removed.

At midafternoon Wednesday, an otherwise slow day at the mall, a small stream of parents with young children strode through the area near the park stage, where Sally and Snoopy were greeting well-wishers.

Or was it mourners?

"We're not too happy about it," said Barbara Harper of Eagan, who had brought her 2-year-old granddaughter, Taylor Rytting of Eagle River, Alaska, for a hug from her favorite beagle. "It's a sad situation, really. It's something great for children, and with the Charles Schulz connection, it's a legacy. It's too bad we're going to lose that."

Debbie Suhsen of Bloomington was disheartened to find that her daughter Ashley's renewed annual Camp Snoopy pass already had the Snoopy logo replaced with one reading "The Park at MOA." Suhsen said they have always come to the mall not to shop but to enjoy the indoor amusement park.

"How do you say 'It's not Camp Snoopy anymore?' " Suhsen said. "It's sad. We've been coming here a long time, and we know a lot of the people who work here; even the workers are sad, though they're not supposed to talk."

Camp Snoopy paraphernalia will be for sale through March, and licensed Peanuts gear (without Camp Snoopy references) will remain available throughout the mall as it is in any retail outlet, said Mall of America spokesman Dan Jasper. The amusement park, the largest of its kind indoors in North America, will continue to operate with virtually all its current rides, but what will happen in the long run is unclear.

"Camp Snoopy has been part of our tradition," Jasper said. "But it's going to be exciting once we're able to finalize our plan."

Johnson, a product designer who has lived in Minneapolis two years, said Camp Snoopy's final day was momentous enough for her to visit the mall for the first time. Even though she's a lifelong Peanuts fan, admiring it for its philosophical tone, she said she hadn't been able to bring herself to visit Camp Snoopy in part because of a lifelong fear of animated characters (including Santa Claus). But Wednesday, she even allowed herself to be fully embraced by Snoopy himself.

"He kissed me. I even heard the kiss," Johnson said. "It was actually calming. I guess it was a rite of passage."

Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646