THESE CARVED bear musicians and square dancers make up one of the popular features on the Ridgefield property owned by Dave & Carol Zylstra. Photo courtesy of FH Browne.
ZYLSTRA is almost as tall as this cast aluminum bull elk. Photo courtesy of FH Browne.
ANOTHER FEATURE at Mt. Ridgefield is this, showing “Old McDonald” driving a wagon pulled by a rainbow-hued rooster, under the gaze of a carved eagle, and in front of a mural created by Jerry Gay of Woodland. Photo courtesy of FH Browne.
THIS ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE was originally located in downtown Ridgefield. Dave Zylstra purchased it, moved it to his property and created this scene with the help of a Tennessee artist. Photo courtesy of FH Browne.
Dave Zylstra calls it his version of Wally World. Others refer to it as Ridgefield’s Disneyland. The official name is Mt. Ridgefield, but for the hundreds of people who have driven past, it’s one of the most delightful and fun sights in all of Clark County.
Zylstra and his wife Carol have created a roadside fantasy land filled with dozens of figures of wild animals, cartoon-decorated barns, whimsical water wheels, and even a mountain complete with a winding stream that surprises and delights those who drive by.
“There was nothing here but pasture when I bought the land in 1985, but then we built a home and started adding this and that,” Dave Zylstra said. “Pretty soon, we had a place that people enjoyed driving by, some even turning around to come by a second time, and we love to see the joy on their faces.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Zylstra moved to Washington after a 21-year career as the Superintendent of Los Angeles County’s Cemetery District. After he built their home near Tri-Mountain Golf Course in Ridgefield, his wife Carol, a nurse, wanted a water feature on the property. So, they commissioned Rick Hooks, of Water Landscaping and Ponds in Vancouver, to build a waterfall in front of the house. Then, they started their animal sculptures.
Several years, and a whole passel of critters later, they discussed adding more water and Hooks came up with the idea of a stream running along the front of the property on a natural slope to a downhill creek. After that suggestion, Zylstra added a mountain scene, importing huge boulders, and having “Mt. Ridgefield” carved on the largest one. Then, construction began on what ended up as a meandering and shallow stream that winds 300 feet by the road. Pumps re-circulate the water at 400 gallons a minute to keep the waterfall and stream actively flowing.
As you drive along the road in front of the Zylstra’s property, you can see that there are over a dozen bears, several cougars, a lone wolf, and several moose carved from wood; a cast-aluminum elk and a cowboy on a bucking bull; sheet metal horses, bull moose, roosters, herons and Angus cattle; a topiary alligator and a turtle fashioned from horseshoes. There are raccoons, and squirrels, a Dalmatian lifting his leg and a black bear caught in the act of “watering” a barn. There are goofy moose and a raccoon and crow atop tall “trees.”
In the center of his property is a bright white gazebo, which is the backdrop to one of the most magical and endearing features of the place. The “square dance” features a group of bear musicians (base player, drummer, guitar player and two singers), an applauding bear on a stump, and, up front; three bruin couples dosey doeing and promenading to their hearts’ content.
Human representations scattered around the property include a bunch of rugged cowboys, a terror-stuck gold-panning prospector under the shadow of a huge grizzly bear, and a coonskin-cap wearing frontiersman. Most of the figures are at least life-size and only a couple are taller than the 6-foot-7 Zylstra.
Structures on the property include an English phone booth, a functioning water wheel, a Lilliputian-sized “Guest House,” several barns including one that has its painted-on windows filled with cartoon characters, and the biggest prizes, the historic West Pioneer one-room schoolhouse and the Kapus water tower.
“When I heard they were to be demolished to make room for the new Peace Health building, I asked if I could move it to my property, but at the time it was slated to go to La Center as a visitor’s center,’’ Zylstra said of the schoolhouse. “But, a couple of years later it became available, so I bought it and moved it here.”
To dress up the scene, Zylstra commissioned an artist in Tennessee to create a schoolmarm and several children, and had a local artist make a merry-go-round, where two of the children are placed. Surprisingly, the clothing worn by the sculptures is actually real children’s shirts, dresses and pants, applied and preserved using transparent fiberglass.
Other scenes on Mt. Ridgefield include:
• A cougar stalking a panicked and fleeing deer
• A fly fisherman and his dog waiting by the stream near the water wheel
• A nursing calf with papa bull standing nearby
• A cowpoke riding a bull that is rearing up to throw him off
• A representation of Old McDonald driving a wagon pulled by a whimsical multicolored rooster
• The trimmed-bush alligator lunging toward a feeding heron
• A scenario featuring a carved squirrel backed up by a grass-munching moose. When asked, Zylstra sadly acknowledged that, “No, it’s not supposed to be Rocky and Bullwinkle.”
Zylstra’s latest acquisition to his man-made menagerie is a life-size woodcarving of Smokey Bear, fashioned from a stump taken from a future industrial project site near downtown Ridgefield. But, when asked whether there will be more additions, he confessed that he probably won’t add anything in the future.
“Of course, if I happen to see something that strikes me as special … one can never say,” Zylstra confessed.
Although the various works of art were created by artists from Montana to Mexico, a fair number are the works of local craftsmen as well. Matt Hambrook of La Center and Nyle Thomas of Sedro-Woolley (NE of Seattle) carved most of the bears. And, Thomas, a world-class chain saw artist, also created the two soaring gateways on the property. Jerry Gay, of Woodland, painted the signs, murals and barn cartoons.
Irene Deeley, a famous welded-steel and cast bronze artist from Boise, ID, created the massive eagle that sits atop a soaring tree trunk by one of the main gates on the property. The 40-foot trunk, where several bears are going after a honeycomb while momma bear watches from below, was bought by Zylstra. The sculpture, created from over 500 pieces of scrap pipe and metal pipes, was purchased with the understanding that a portion of what Zylstra paid went to a veterinarian who rescued the eagle’s live model.
When asked why he and his wife have set about to provide an artistic paradise for passers-by, Zylstra says that “it’s our way of giving back to the community, of providing enjoyment for anyone who wanders by, of having fun with life, of supporting wonderful artists and basically for the fun of making something that other people enjoy.”
To view Mt. Ridgefield and all its creatures, from I-5 take the Pioneer St. exit and head East. At the roundabout, go counterclockwise to make a left turn onto NW 65th Ave, which immediately turns into NW 11th Ave. After 1.8 miles, you will pass the Tri-Mountain Golf Course on your left. Continue another 1/4 mile and on your right will be Mt. Ridgefield and Dave and Carol’s collection of critters.
