- The yellow brick road?

- [Julie] Hm?

I have a feeling we're not in Peoria anymore.

(Julie chuckles) So come along on a fantastic trip to Oz!

- And a few other fun places too.

You gotta see this!

(upbeat music) (gentle music) Okay, what are we doing here in the Land of Oz?

- We are indeed in the Wizard of Oz Garden in Butler Haynes Park outside of Mapleton, and it's the perfect setting for this episode of "You Gotta See This" 'cause we've got plenty of Oz tales to share, including a key central Illinois connection to the entire Oz backstory.

- Yeah, but before we do that, I heard that we're going camping.

- Why, why the frowny face there about camping?

- I'm not exactly an outdoorsy type of girl.

- Well, that we know, so you're in luck.

We're heading to LaSalle County and Camp Aramoni, where it's not just camping, it's luxury camping.

- [Julie] Ooh, luxury camping, I'm in!

Let's try that.

- Now, Camp Aramoni is the brainchild.

Brains?

Speaking of brains.

- Brains, I don't think he has, does he have 'em yet?

- I'm not sure where we are- - I don't know.

- On the yellow brick road.

- Yeah.

- Going to or from the Wizard, but anyway.

- It's okay, buddy.

- (chuckles) Camp Aramoni is the brainchild of Jennifer and Tim Bias of LaSalle.

She owns a mechanical contracting company, and he's a mechanical engineer.

And they decided to start this family business, and it includes their adult daughter, Stephanie.

And they created this amazing spread of luxury camping.

It starts at $450 a night for a couple.

- Whoa, okay.

- But you gotta see what you get.

It's not just a tent and ground, it's a whole lot of stuff.

And there's all sorts of other offerings at this place.

- It does sound swanky.

Let's get to camping.

(energetic music) - Welcome to Camp Aramoni.

We are now at the tent called Bellflower.

So why don't you come on in, and I'll show you around.

And every tent is similar but different.

They all have the same kind of theme.

But some of the tents are family tents, so they might have bunk beds.

And some of the tents are kind of girl tribe tents where we have all twin beds.

So they, like I said, they all have the same theme, but they kind of look a little different.

As a guest, we do everything for you, including cooking your meals, and your meals are included in your stay.

You get a full breakfast and a full dinner off of our gourmet menu.

And we also have an entourage of what we call camp counselors that are waiting on you hand and foot.

And so that's one thing about Camp Aramoni, is glamping is glamorous camping, but we wanted to elevate it to boutique camping.

So not only are you in a tent and sleeping in a very comfortable bed, you're also in a climate controlled area.

(calming music) So I always loved to camp.

And by nature, the things I love in life are, I'm a foodie.

I love to cook, I love gardening, I love nature, I love people.

And coming from a very large family, all of our holidays were spent at my house.

I was looking for something to keep me active when I do decide to retire, and following the glamping industry in Europe, because it really wasn't prevalent in the United States when I started looking at this about six to seven years ago, it's getting the best part of camping, which is nature, fresh air, blue skies, dark skies, but having all the comforts of home.

So having taken my five sisters and all of our kids to an organic glamping site on a farm north of Rockford, we had the best time.

When we came home, I was bit by the bug, and I knew it was something that I had to pursue.

And finding this property, which was right in our own backyard and vacant for decades, my cousin lives right on the river and just chatting with him about my experience, he said, "Come out after work, I'll take you for a ride on the four-wheeler," and he took me through the brickyard, and it was just like the aha moment.

- We are in Bricks & Stones, our event space that was once a part of the brickyard that was onsite.

It's a 150-year-old building, and it's a great spot for celebrating life's greatest moments.

- [Jennifer] So the brickyard operated from 1861 to 1979.

- These are the brick kilns where they would make the bricks.

It was a 21-day process to make the bricks.

Seven days to heat the kiln, seven days to bake, and then seven days to cool down.

And they would make around 72,000 bricks every single day.

Sadly, most of those buildings are gone now because when the brickyard closed in 1981, they bulldozed most of the property for steel salvage.

- And they left it basically an industrial ruin, and it sat here for three plus decades before we came across it.

(energetic music) So there's all kinds of things that you can indulge yourself with here at Camp Aramoni.

And every night, we serve homemade gourmet s'mores from our kitchen, our chef makes our own marshmallows here, and we make them in different flavors.

And the camp counselors will come, and they'll light your fire.

Other amenities that we provide is, you can do a Chicago-style hotdog experience at your campfire, and then you can also even get an in-suite massage at your tent, or you can just take a hike on 96 acres of beautiful nature and enjoy the dark skies.

This is a favorite spot that we do early morning yoga.

We also do picnics out here for guests that might come, you know, three tents stay together, and they want a bigger area to have picnics that's close to their tents.

And those picnics also can happen at night in different areas that are deep in the woods and down by the river.

We do have a big draw from Chicago and the suburbs, but we also draw from the whole Midwest and beyond.

We've had a guest that stayed here that was from Brazil.

And he was running in the Chicago Marathon, and he came here prior to that, the week prior to just kinda relax and get ready for his race.

The best part is the guest experience, to see our brides and grooms getting married, to see the campers come and then want to return and keep coming back.

That's the best part.

- Well, as we just saw with Camp Aramoni, sometimes you can find some remarkable sites in some unexpected places.

- Kind of like where we are right now in this amazing little park that looks like the Land of Oz.

And one of the things that we're talking about in our next story is about murals, even bigger than this one.

We're talking about big murals in small towns that are making a big splash.

Check it out.

(bright music) There's art, and then there's Ray Paseka's art.

What sets Ray's art apart are his big ideas, not just metaphorically, literally big.

Like his massive 2017 project in Streator.

- We built this mural that's 60 feet high by 80 feet across, and it took five months to execute the project.

And it worked out really well, the city loves it.

The area actually picked up because it beautified the area and people felt like they could spend money on their buildings, and actually did a lot of economic benefits, which I never even thought of.

- [Julie] Economic benefits that other small communities found interesting.

Cherry, Illinois, now displays a Paseka mural that is a 3D artistic representation of Cherry as a booming mining town at the beginning of the 20th century.

- And so that was a lot of fun.

And then we did a gigantic ear of corn, and that was in Mendota, and that was about 70 feet high.

And that was an interesting project because we had to figure out how to paint this gigantic kernels of corn but technically at a distance when you look at it that it'd be consistent, so the procedure of painting layer after layer, 'cause we could never see the whole thing.

I was really happy with the end result, and they loved it, so it was good.

- [Julie] So good, in fact, that when a New York Times reporter wrote an article about cross-country train travel, they had this to say about Ray's work: "Shortly into its route, the Chief passes the single best thing in the United States: a silo in Mendota, Illinois, with an 80-by-20 foot ear of corn painted on the side."

It's a reaction that Ray has learned to trust over the years.

- Anytime we did a project that was more progressive and unusual, it had a lot more impact, and so I always believe that that's the way to approach a project, is to push the limits a little bit, just have some fun with it.

So, you know, the name of the game is at least try to to do something really creative, that's all.

- [Julie] In his studio, a 110-year-old church in Rutland, Illinois, that he calls the Church of the Sacred Arts, he and his crew are always creating new projects, from a 30-foot-high dragon named Creech to a mural celebrating the hundredth anniversary of IVCC.

Working with his team of young artists, he's fostering his love of art to a new generation.

- He shows his things, we're up at the table in the mornings, and we're like, "Mm, could add this thing there."

(chuckles) But, so kinda that collaborative aspect for me is really fun.

I mean, I've always really enjoyed working with other people.

I know that's not always the case, but, you know, for me.

And this is basically an opportunity to do that on a really big scale and, you know, not for a grade, which is kinda nice.

Lots of people are gonna see it, you know, it's almost kind of like, I mean, for me, at least, it feels a bit like public service.

- [Julie] A way for small town communities to make a big impact with art and attract visitors.

- But for the most part, if you're drawing outside interest, they're not too interested in history.

But you give 'em something that's just a wow factor, they're like, "Oh my gosh, look at that," then they talk to their friends and people, word gets around, they wanna come and see it.

So I always push for something that's more unusual.

(bright music) - This show has gone all over the place today.

- And for the next story, the next stop's gonna be the Land of Oz.

- Ta-da!

Well, will there be lions and tigers and bears?

Oh my!

- I don't see any right now.

- What about Dorothy and the yellow brick road and- - Indeed for both, as the yellow brick road takes a detour to Bloomington.

(graceful music) In the history of American storytelling, the best known child character is probably a certain Midwestern girl who got whisked by a cyclone to a fantastical land called Oz.

- Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

- [Phil] The thing is, Dorothy's journey didn't start in Kansas.

And, despite what some might say, it didn't really start in Munchkinland.

- Follow the yellow brick road brick road.

- Follow the yellow brick road.

- Follow the yellow brick road.

♪ Follow the yellow brick road ♪ ♪ Follow the yellow brick road ♪ ♪ Follow, follow, follow, follow ♪ ♪ Follow the yellow brick road ♪ - [Phil] Actually, there is a real-world connection between the yellow brick road and Central Illinois.

Seems Dorothy is from a far away place called Bloomington, Illinois.

But, how can that be?

The backstory has almost as many twists as the Wizard of Oz and even includes a munchkin.

In 1900, L. Frank Baum published "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

The books flew off the shelves, prompting Baum to write 13 sequels over the next 20 years.

Meantime, 1902 saw the Broadway debut of the stage version of "The Wizard of Oz" written by Baum.

This marks the first time he gives a last name to Dorothy, Gale.

And that was her name in the iconic 1939 Hollywood release, "The Wizard of Oz," which boasted groundbreaking color technique and special effects.

- You have these bright, vibrant colors when you go off into the Land of Oz, so there's always just this kind of wonder and magic about it.

- [Phil] It became an American institution starting in 1956 when it began an annual broadcast on TV.

- Dorothy definitely has a connection to a lot of people from our childhood, even on into our adulthood.

And, you know, it's just one of those stories that just really, you know, kindA rings to you and helps you think back of, you know, when you were a kid.

- [Phil] But how and when did Bloomington play a part in all this?

For that angle, we turn to Frank Baum's wife, Maud.

In the late 1890s, while he was working on the book, the couple was raising a household of boys in Chicago.

With no daughter, Maud Baum was excited by news in 1898 from her sister and brother-in-law, Sophie and Thomas Gage.

In their home in Bloomington, they welcomed a baby girl, Dorothy Gage.

Soon, Maud Baum was making frequent train trips from Chicago to Bloomington - L. Frank Baum's wife, she was very fond of Dorothy and doted on her like that was her own daughter 'cause she only had sons.

And so when Dorothy died at the age of five months and about two days, the family was very upset and very sad.

And so, Maud Baum came to Bloomington from Chicago, 'cause that's where they were living, and attended the funeral of Dorothy right here in Evergreen Cemetery, which at the time would've been known as Bloomington Cemetery.

L. Frank Baum, who was in the process of writing a new book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," named the heroine, the main character of his book, Dorothy, after little Dorothy Gage to kinda memorialize her and maybe even imagine what her life may have been like if she had grown into adulthood.

Naming Dorothy in the book Dorothy Gale after Dorothy Gage would very much have been a nice way that her husband could've helped ease the grief, ease the pain, help some healing in a little way.

- [Phil] Why the change in surname from Gage to Gale?

Probably, say "Oz" scholars, as not to offend any kinfolk.

Or perhaps there's a connection to the story's fateful twister.

- Or like Gale force wind, I don't know.

- [Phil] What we do know for sure is this.

- The story of Dorothy Gage was unearthed in the late '80s, early '90s by researchers who were actually researching a family member who was a suffragette.

And they came across the story of Dorothy and her parents, the Gage family, who actually lived for a time in Bloomington.

And they were able to identify her gravesite out here, which was very worn, it was very small as well.

And they worked with one of the last surviving munchkins from the movie.

- And oh, what happened then was rich.

♪ The house began to pitch ♪ ♪ The kitchen took a slitch.

♪ - He actually owned a monument company in St. Louis, Missouri and helped fundraise and also create the monument that they placed at Dorothy's gravesite, which was in much better shape, to denote her location and also to help people learn of the story of Dorothy Gage.

- [Phil] Evergreen Cemetery became a tourism stop for "Oz" fans.

- Dorothy is very popular.

Not just her gravesite is a popular place to visit but also the tree carving that the cemetery put up about six or seven years ago.

- [Phil] And the cemetery offers one other nod to Dorothy.

- As part of that 1997 effort to give Dorothy a new stone, they also created the Dorothy Gage Memorial Children's Garden that is at the front of the cemetery, and that is where people can bury infants and young children who have passed away, much like Dorothy, ahead of their time.

- [Phil] The real life story is bittersweet.

Still, Summers and others are glad for the connection between Dorothy and Bloomington.

- And the fact that there's a physical connection to this story right here in Bloomington, I think that is really an extra special piece that a lot of people are proud of.

- [Dorothy] There's no place like home.

There's no place.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to wonderful Worth Township, Illinois, and my garage for another episode of 8-Track Time Machine, where we discuss the songs and the stories of the 8-track era.

And sometimes we go back even a little bit farther, 'cause I said wonderful because we're talking about "The Wizard of Oz."

Now, it's an iconic American tale, first as a novel, and then later as the 1939 blockbuster movie.

And it boasts one of the greatest soundtracks in film history, including probably the greatest song ever written for film.

♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪ ♪ Way up high ♪ - Now, that won the Academy Award for best song, and it also won an Oscar for best original score.

In fact, the soundtrack is just chock-full of great songs, like this one.

♪ I would dance and be merry ♪ ♪ Life would be a ding-a-derry ♪ ♪ If I only had a brain ♪ (Scarecrow yelps) - Now, fans of the film know the following: that Buddy Ebsen, you know, Jed Clampett, Barnaby Jones, was originally cast as the Tin Man, but he had to pull out because of bad interaction with makeup for the costume.

(bright music) ♪ I'd be friends with the sparrows ♪ ♪ And the boy that shoots the arrows ♪ ♪ If I only had a heart ♪ - Obviously, that got pulled from the final draft of the movie, but Ebsen is still on the soundtrack in "We're Off to See the Wizard."

That's because his replacement, Jack Haley, and Ray Bolger, who played Scarecrow, were from Boston, and they had a really thick Boston accent even when they sang.

And so they couldn't do the R, like an R, hard R, like Ebsen could and Julie Garland could do, 'cause they were both from the Midwest.

Here, take a listen and see if you can hear Ebsen singing the song.

♪ We're off to see the wizard ♪ ♪ The wonderful wizard of Oz ♪ ♪ We hear he is a whiz of a Wiz ♪ ♪ If ever a Wiz there was ♪ ♪ If ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was ♪ ♪ The wizard of Oz is one because ♪ ♪ Because, because, because, because, because ♪ ♪ Because of the wonderful things he does ♪ - Now, as far as the 8-track era, in 1967, the little known band called The Fifth Estate did a really trippy version of "Ding Dong!

The Witch Is Dead."

And somehow this thing went to number 11.

♪ Ding dong, the witch is dead ♪ ♪ Which old witch ♪ ♪ The wicked witch ♪ ♪ Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead ♪ - A few years later came "The Wiz," a retelling of the "Oz" story.

In 1974, it hit Broadway, in 1978, it hit the big screen.

And it was a pretty big hit, the songs were, thanks to Michael Jackson and Diana Ross as the Scarecrow and Dorothy.

♪ Ease on down, ease on down the road ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Ease on down, ease on down the road ♪ - Otherwise, though, despite the enduring popularity of this story and the movie, it's rarely been referenced in pop music, at least not in any really popular music, except for two times.

1973 brought the Elton John 8-track, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," including the title cut, and this is considered probably Elton John's greatest song.

And co-writer Bernie Taupin said, indeed, this is a direct reference to "The Wizard of Oz."

They were getting really big in pop music and they had all the stardom, all the trappings, and Taupin just longed for a simpler time, his childhood time, indeed, like Dorothy, on a farm.

♪ So goodbye yellow brick road ♪ ♪ Where the dogs of society howl ♪ ♪ You can't plant me in your penthouse ♪ ♪ I'm going back to my plough ♪ - The next year, the band America released the 8-track "Holiday," and it included a curious, confusing song called "Tin Man."

♪ Oh, Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man ♪ ♪ That he didn't, didn't already have ♪ - Now, despite that line and despite the title of the song, there are no other references to "The Wizard of Oz."

It's mostly just psychedelic weirdness, there's references to soap suds and green bubbles and the tropic of Sir Galahad, whatever that is.

This may seem like a really enigmatic song, but it's not even their weirdest song, 'cause this is the band that did "A Horse With No Name."

It's freaky stuff, right?

Then again, the Tin Man, he hung out with a scarecrow, a lion, some witches, flying monkeys, some talking trees, a whole lot of weirdness.

Just part of a long, strange trip down yellow brick road.

♪ We're off to see the wizard ♪ ♪ The wonderful wizard of Oz ♪ - Well, that was quite the journey along the yellow brick road, although we still haven't found the wizard.

- I know we keep looking for things, but we do have a lot of good qualities that we don't need to get from the wizard, like, we're good looking.

- We got the talent, we got it all, but you know what we do need?

- People to watch us.

So why don't you tune in next time to watch "You Gotta See This"?

(bright music) (cackles) You only have this much time.

(Julie cackles) ♪ Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo ♪ - 'Kay.

(triumphant music) (triumphant music continues) (triumphant music continues) (triumphant music continues)