After 25 years, Rocky and Juliet Ehlers have put the Enchanted Forest and Sky Trek up for sale.
“It’s been very enjoyable years and it’s time we move on,” said Rocky, 69.
The popular tourist attractions, located on the Trans-Canada Highway about 25 kilometres east of Sicamous, are listed for sale for $2.7 million.
“It’s been a rewarding 25 years and we grew the business quite a bit,” said Rocky. “It’s an attraction for people of all ages and we made it that way.”
According to its website, The Enchanted Forest opened on July 1, 1960, as a place for Doris Needham to showcase her fairy tale figurines. She and her husband Ernest searched for a location before finding the spot on the highway about half way between Revelstoke and Sicamous.
They slowly added attractions over the years, capitalizing on the increase in traffic that came with the opening of the Trans-Canada Highway through Rogers Pass in 1962.
The Ehlers purchased the attraction in 1990 and continued to add to it, most notably building the wetlands boardwalk and the three-story treehouse, the tallest in British Columbia.
They also added the Sky Trek Adventure Park next door, a series of ropes courses built amongst the treetops.
“Building SkyTrek and learning how to climb trees and work in the treetops was an adventure,” said Rocky.
Rocky was a forester and Juliet was a nurse before they bought the attraction.
Rocky said that on a busy day about 1,000 people will stop at the Enchanted Forest and Sky Trek.
“I think the fact we get as many people coming shows they want to be in the forest, so that’s what we did,” he said.