NEW PHILADELPHIA (Tusco TV) - Story Book Lane organizers are putting the finishing touches on this year’s display to have it ready to greet visitors at Tuscora Park for the weekend.

City workers installed the two dozen Mother Goose scenes Tuesday, and on Wednesday, New Phila Rotarians updated the friends and sponsor boards. Member Tom Police says the community’s support is essential to preserving the more than 60-year-old display that got its start on East High Avenue.

“All the originals were done in 1956, so we had a lot of them that had a lot of wear and tear over the years. We have an artist by the name of Mark Watson who’s incredibly talented, and we’re putting them on aluminum sheets now and painting them with an automotive paint. Mark does all this with airbrushing and just does a fantastic job of recreating the original,” he says.   

Police says they try to work on a couple of the scenes each year so people might see something new if it’s been a while since their last visit.  

“Humpty Dumpty we’ve actually expanded a little bit. We added some of the king’s men with it this year. Before we just had little dog watching along with the lady but now we thought we should throw the king’s men in,” he says. “Prior to that, we did rebuild The Three Blind Mice, and instead of chopping their tails off he put bandaids on their tails so it was a little kinder.” 

Police says once they finish installing the lights and checking the mechanics, they’ll open Story Book Lane for the season. 

TUSCO TV