Knott Family Has Grown, and Diversified, Along With the Theme Park

As a kid, Darrel Anderson and his cousins were the envy of their peers.

After all, how many Orange County kids get to grow up on a farm? And not just any farm. Perhaps the most famous of them all--at least in Southern California.

“I got to play in Ghost Town,” said Anderson, 49, a Lido Island resident and father of three.

Nowadays, though, Anderson and his eight cousins have inherited the responsibility that comes with the fun of Knott’s Berry Farm. They are taking an increasingly large part in operating the $200-million business.

Six of this third generation are members of the company’s board of directors, which Anderson describes as a fairly informal body that usually numbers about 11. The other five board members include the second generation--the son and three daughters of founders Walter and Cordelia Knott, who are their parents--and a non-family member, Knott’s President Terry E. Van Gorder.

As the Knott’s Berry Farm operation has grown into a nationally recognized theme park, with acclaimed food products and restaurants, the family has grown as well.

The family legacy of Walter and Cordelia now includes 24 great-grandchildren and a smattering of great- great-grandchildren.

The second generation has stayed close by and active in the business of running the 150-acre Buena Park investment, and is mostly retired now. They include son Russell and his sisters, Marion Knott Montapert, Toni Knott Oliphant and Virginia Knott Bender.

Bender is probably the most visible of the bunch at Knott’s these days, spending at least three days a week in the gift shop there that bears her name. It has been a lifelong venture, starting in 1939 when she first started selling craft items from a table at the entrance to her mom’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

Bender, a redhead who was a classmate of the late Richard Nixon at Whittier College, said she wouldn’t think of retiring. “I’d be bored to death,” she said. And, she added, she would miss meeting people.

“You would be surprised. So many people shake my hand and say, ‘My dad brought me here when I was 6 and now I am coming here with my own kids,’ ” Bender said.

The running of Knott’s Berry Farm has not been as steady an occupation for the third generation, since there are many more professional managers now.

Anderson, for instance, has been involved with “the farm” since he was young and helped launch the Knott’s Camp Snoopy operation in Minnesota and the Mrs. Knott’s restaurant chain in Southern California. But he has active business interests of his own, including the founding of the four-unit Renaissance Cafe coffeehouse chain he operates with his son Andy, 28.

Anderson, son of Marion Knott Montapert, has also served in the rotating position as chairman of Knott’s Berry Farm. Currently, that distinction goes to cousin Mike Reafsnyder.

As happens with big families, the members have gradually started to move away from the family homestead.

Russell’s son, Ken Knott, for instance, moved to Oregon, where he owns a ranch. A couple of the third-generation Knotts have moved to San Diego. Anderson said it’s more and more difficult to get everyone together except for special occasions, like weddings.

This growing distance has made it harder to plan how the company will be managed in the future. Who will rise from the fourth generation to take an active role in the running of Knott’s Berry Farm?

“Beyond my generation, there is no distinct plan,” Anderson said.