Monticello campground becoming Jellystone Park

MONTICELLO - After operating for more than 30 years as Walnut Acres Campground, the 270-site park will open for the season April 15 as Monticello Jellystone Park.

Chip Smith and his wife, Kim, have owned and operated Walnut Acres for nine years. It will be the first Iowa campground to belong to the second-largest chain of campgrounds in the nation.

'We really wanted to strengthen our brand recognition as far as being a family-operated campground,” Chip Smith said. 'We needed a name change and we wanted the clear brand recognition that Jellystone could provide.

'The whole atmosphere behind Yogi Bear is family fun, and that's what we provide. Parents know their kids are going to be entertained and that it's a fun, safe environment.”

While they have worked over the last nine years to improve family activities and amenities, the Smiths felt the growth potential of Walnut Acres might always be limited unless they joined a nationally-known network.

'We're not a hard park to find, but more people are looking for Jellystone than Walnut Acres,” Chip Smith said. 'The information (about the change to Jellystone Park) leaked out in January and we had two dozen reservations right away.

'Since Woodall's (campground information and directories) came out with its announcement March 30, we have been bombarded with phone calls and reservations. We are drawing campers from much farther away.

'In the past, most of our campers have come from within a 45-minute radius of Monticello. We received a reservation from a family in Des Moines, which is three hours away.”

Smith said the park's activity schedule will be significantly expanded with the move to the Jellystone network. He said the park has added new amenities, including a jumping pillow, shuffleboard courts and a Game Show Mania game.

Monticello Jellystone Park, located next to the Maquoketa River, also offers a heated swimming pool, a fishing lake with pedal boat rentals as well as a river tubing trail, a large sand beach, playground and horseshoe pits.

In addition to its camping sites, the park has two cabins and one camper rental.

Monticello Jellystone Park will employ about 30, including 20 new hires this year, according to Chip Smith. He said concrete has been poured for the base of a 10-foot fiberglass statue of Yogi Bear, which will greet campground visitors.

'On Saturday, April 16, we have the ‘waking of the bears' where children will have a parade banging on pots and pans to wake up Yogi Bear and Cindy Bear,” he said. 'It will kick off our grand opening weekend activities.”