Since so many folks in the 30 day challenge have a certain affinity for South Park and it's characters I thought I would share my unique connection to the real town. About 7 years ago I had the opportunity of working with the Town of Fairplay, in Park County, the place that the cartoon is based upon - on several historic preservation and community planning projects that focused on "south park". And yes to this day, it is one of my proudest moments in my career, unfortunately it doesn't get you the kind of recognition that you would expect!
While there is no town called "South Park", there is an old western, town museum (ghost town) within the town of Fairplay and this is South Park City. It is a bit of an odd set up, as if part of the old main street was sectioned off and turned into a ghost town. Which is what I think really did happen. It looks like a movie set, complete with authentic buildings (34) and artifacts from an old frontier mining town. Now the rest of main street doesn't look too much different from the South Park City - in fact it is the same main street. But the part of main street that is still being used today and not within the "limits" of the museum - is just filled with shops selling South Park cartoon stuff! Interesting to see how a few business owners were able to monetize the "wave of traffic" that the cartoon generated to their town. Can you spot some of the 30 day challenge principles at work here?
I have included a shot of the "South Park City" main street - there is a striking resemblance to the one commonly used in the cartoon - don't you think?
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