Pandemic Pen Pals

The Setup: Children’s Fairyland is a magical little storybook theme park in Oakland that’s been delighting kids since 1950. But when COVID hit, the gates closed, and like a lot of places, Fairyland needed to figure out how to stay connected with its community—even when no one could visit in person.

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The Idea: As the park’s Brand Storyteller, I came up with a simple way to keep the magic alive. We invited kids to write letters to Fairyland’s fairies and elves, and promised they'd get a response in return. It was part pen-pal, part performance, and all heart.

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What Happened: We put the word out. And 293 letters came in from local kids. A crew of five volunteer fairies and elves wrote back by hand on charming kid-sized stationery designed by local artist Michael Wertz. Every note was personal. Every response kept the story going.

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The Outcome: It worked. Fairyland stayed present in the lives of families. Kids were thrilled to get real letters from fairies. Parents were grateful for a little magic in a hard time. It was a simple campaign that reminded everyone—especially the littlest ones—that imagination doesn’t shut down just because the park does.