How a beloved piece of Camp Snoopy ended up at a Ham Lake pumpkin farm

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Camp Snoopy lives large in the memories of a certain generation of Minnesotans.

The Peanuts-themed amusement park at the Mall of America has been gone for decades, but many still remember flipping off their shoes to jump in the giant Snoopy inflatable.

They recall swinging high in the air on the kite-eating tree ride.

And they remember that in those days before cellphones were widespread, they would meet up at the red Snoopy dog bowl fountain when it was time to head home.

That giant bowl, as it turns out, ended up at a Minnesota pumpkin farm, where it is enjoying a happy second life as a corn pit.

After Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reader-powered reporting project, looked into the story of how Camp Snoopy became Nickelodeon Universe, another reader named Chas Strobel reached out.

“We turned in and right away, I said, ‘That’s Snoopy’s bowl,’” Strobel said.

Strobel grew up in Eagan with frequent visits to Camp Snoopy. The big red bowl had been the de facto meet-up spot for his family in the park, so he was surprised to see it again when he and his family drove up to the pumpkin farm for a school event.

“My wife looked at me like I’m crazy. She didn’t grow up here,” he said.

Strobel explained the whole thing to his wife and son, then got out of the car and booked it to the Snoopy bowl to take photos, he said.

“I swear I stood there for like, five minutes, just reminiscing,” Strobel said.

Camp Snoopy’s Peanuts fixtures were decommissioned or repurposed at other parks, according to a mall spokesperson.

The bowl at Anoka County Farms doesn’t have a direct paper trail back to Camp Snoopy. Still, Anoka County Farms’ owner Jerrit Bromley believes it (along with a couple benches shaped like dog bones and a few other pieces of Peanuts decor) came from the Minnesota mall amusement park, and not from some other Peanuts-branded property. They have been at the pumpkin farm for more than a decade.

The farm has been in business since 2007, when Bromley and his dad, Scott, began selling pumpkins along Bunker Lake Boulevard in Ham Lake.

Over the years, the Bromleys started collecting memorabilia — a turtle sculpture from the Como Zoo, an old orange Volkswagen bug and vintage restaurant signage. They also have Peanuts statues from St. Paul.

“Over time, one thing kind of adds into another thing to another thing and it adds up,” Bromley said.

Bromley’s dad, who died in 2020, purchased the Snoopy bowl around 2009, Bromley said. A friend of a friend had the Peanuts fixtures and had been using the bowl as a pool, Bromley said. When their kids got older and stopped using it, they offered to sell it to the Bromleys.

Every time Bromley has moved the Snoopy bowl, coins from its days as a fountain fell out, he said.

In recent years, Bromley has been filling the Snoopy bowl with corn each fall to make it into a corn pit, adding it to other activities like hayrides, a big slide and a barrel train.

Now, the kids of the kids who once enjoyed Camp Snoopy are playing in a piece of the park.

Earlier this month, Lisa Jagadeesan watched as her kids played in the big bowl she remembered from Camp Snoopy.

She told her kids about the Mystery Mine Ride, which felt very high-tech at the time, and the Snoopy inflatable. She fondly remembered the Northwoods feel of the park.

“It was just really fun, and it was very, kind of, rustic and Minnesotan,” she said.

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