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Northwestern Arkansas Newspaper Reminisces About ‘Dogpatch U.S.A.’

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Daily Cartoonist Staff September 10, 2018 1 minute 0 comments

The Northwest (Fayetteville) Arkansas Democrat Gazette had a recent editorial summoning up some memories of a Lil Abner-based theme park called “Dogpatch USA.”

From the editorial:

Truth be told, Dogpatch USA was never the grandest amusement park to ever open its gates. Its developers had big visions when the park near Harrison, themed after the satirical “Lil’ Abner” comic strip, opened to the public in 1968. The Al Capp comic strip in its heyday circulated in something like 900 newspapers.

When a group of Arkansas investors wanted to tap into the national popularity of the hillbilly genre (“The Beverly Hillbillies” sit-com started its popular nine-season run in 1962), Capp’s comical characters of Lil’ Abner Yokum, his mammy and pappy, his love interest Daisy Mae and a host of other silly residents of a town called Dogpatch seemed a perfect fit for an Ozarks-based theme park.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/sep/05/nwa-editorial-see-you-in-the-comic-stri/