NOTE FROM THE WRITER: We here at Theme Park Duo are fully aware that by the time you read this review article, the Taste of Merry Farm event will be closing it’s doors due to the new State of California Stay at Home order. More than likely, this event will not re-open for those who have tickets or for those looking to purchase tickets. But, only time will truly tell what happens to this phenomenal event. Although this may be the case, we still wanted to release the artcile because we feel as though Knott’s deserves the praise. They’ve gone above and beyond expectations in making sure guests are safe while attending their tasting events. We are proud to call Knott’s Berry Farm our home park and we look forward to the future of Knott’s events. For now, please stay safe and wear a mask.

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Every year as the fog dissipates from the streets of Calico, the twinkling lights of the holiday season slowly take over and turn the scary fog filled area into a joyous holiday wonderland. Even with COVID-19 looming around each and every corner, Knott’s still has the same holiday family fun in store, of course with some adjustments.

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As we’ve covered in previous articles, Knott’s Berry Farm has gone above and beyond when it comes to safety protocols outside and inside the park to ensure guest safety. Temperature screenings, strict mask regulations, park wide announcements and plenty of designated seating areas. Additionally, we saw Knott’s add team members throughout the park holding signs, reminding guests of mask protocol and even asking plenty of people to adjust their masks to meet the protocol. Glad that Knott’s is still actively taking steps in making sure people are following the rules.

As with the last few tasting events, you’re given an extremely large lanyard with your card attached. The QR barcode on the tasting card allows for contactless payments for tastings as opposed to punching holds in the past. This lanyard is a bit overwhelming because it has so much info on it! Remember to take some time to see what food items are available at what locations. Because you might be able to avoid crowds by going to a different location. Also, it helps so you don’t forget something you wanted! Worst thing that could happen is you leave and wish you had tasted something! So take some time and plan out your tastings.

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The food at these events range from amazing simple dishes to outright crazy. We didn’t partake in anything that we would consider “bad” because we generally felt everything was good to great. But we did have our favorites from the day.

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Some of our favorite options to try would be the Turkey Dinner Tater Tots, The Turkey Dinner Big Bites, Concha Ice Cream Sandwich, North Pole Oatmeal Toffee Cookiewich with Pralines & Cream Hand Scooped Ice Cream and pretty much every alcoholic beverage…because it’s us. These are the items that we would have gotten multiple servings of, because they were just that damn good. Out of the lot, Nikki’s hands down favorite was the Concha and mine was the Turkey Dinner Tater Tots.

The only item we had during our visit that we wouldn’t suggest getting were the Scrooge’s Spicy Cranberry-Pomegranate Glazed Wings. We didn’t feel as though they had enough flavor or delivered on the “spicy” in it’s name. Not bad, just skip it because there are plenty of better options in our opinion.

Some of the other food items we had during the day were:

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Aside from the food, there are some wonderful pieces of entertainments throughout the park. It being Christmas, Knott’s decided to focus on the characters from A Christmas Carol within Ghost Town. We both think this was ingenius because it’s a timeless story that needs no introduction. People can easily interact with these characters already having known what makes them tick and what their motivations are. For example, we interacted with both The Ghost of Christmas Present and Bob Cratchite and the actors portraying both characters did a phenomenal job and really did a great job as drawing people into the story. They even turned one of the buildings in Ghost Town into Scrooge and Marley; with Bob Cratchite working away on the door step tellings guests not to tell Scrooge that he’s taking momentary breaks from working to speak with them.

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Also in Ghost Town, you can catch carolers occassionally singing holiday favorites atop the balconies as you sip on your favorite holiday beverage. You might even catch a spooky “unlisted” show in Boothill if you’re so lucky!

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Outside of Ghost Town, you can find other characters spread throughout the park. You can find the Peanuts Characters in Camp Snoopy and Boardwalk! You can even catch a tree salesman underneath Hangtime. Watch out though, his prices are high! Here’s a tip, go see the characters at the Charles M. Shultz Theatre. There never seemed to be a line, we think it maybe because people never knew to look up!

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As for the other forms of entertainment, Knott’s has once again brought in outside vendors to sell handmade unique items. This ranges from chainsaw sculpted wooden animals, clothing, soaps and much more. The selection and variety of these booths seems to be much less than years prior, but that makes sense given the circumstances.

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One of our favorite spots to visit during the even was the Tis The Season Art Show underneath the soon to be open, Knott’s Berry Tales. Like many art shows prior, on display are a plethora of incredible art pieces that are on sale. We even picked up a piece while we were there. The shop also has a bunch of Knott’s Holiday Merch which we actually loved this year. They even had a spirit jersey of sorts.

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Speaking of that area, the newly refurbished Charles M. Shultz Theatre and the beautiful show building for Knott’s Berry Tales has seriously never looked better. It made us so happy to see the area get some much needed TLC. We cannot wait to spend more time in this area riding the new attraction.

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Over in Camp Snoopy, you’ll find Kelfin…clearly a relative of Kevin from Taste of Fall-O-Ween! Kelfin is on many of the attractions in Camp Snoopy and it’s actually fun to see how many of them you can count.

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As a whole, Knott’s during the Holiday’s is a sight to be seen. So many twinkling lights across the buildings and trees. Add some holiday music and maybe a slight chill breeze and oh boy does it feel like winter in Buena Park. Honestly, the lights around the park at night are simply breathtaking. The park transforms into festive holiday wonderland and it’s simply the best. With fun photo ops throughout the park, wonderful food and drinks, characters and small hidden Gems, Knott’s Taste of Merry Farm is another stelllar addition to a long string of successful food and retail events that brings the quality that we’ve come to expect from Knott’s Berry Farm.

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TO PURCHASE TICKETS TO KNOTT’S TASTE OF MERRY FARM, HEAD OVER TO KNOTTS.COM