Enjoy An Immersive Experience At The One-Of-A-Kind Wizard Of Oz Museum In Wisconsin

To find the Magical Land of Oz, gas up your car and start driving north. As it turns out, the yellow brick road looks a lot like Highway 141 and the Emerald City also happens to be called Wausaukee. Yes, this tiny village in Marinette County, pop. 523, is home to a small mountain of movie magic, even if there are no flying monkeys darkening the sky above the Dollar General or any stray munchkins hanging around the Wausaukee Bowl.

Just step into the Land of Oz Museum in Wausaukee, Wisconsin, and you’ll know the truth: without question and without a doubt, you are not in Kansas anymore.

The Land of Oz Museum started with the dreams of a young boy named Garry Parrett, who watched the classic movie on a television set back in the 1950s and 60s. The film stuck with Parrett, even as he became an adult.

After Parrett’s wife gave him a Wizard of Oz collector plate in 1989, he began collecting Oz memorabilia in earnest.

His collection exploded. There has been an enormous amount of Wizard of Oz memorabilia created over the years and Parrett has been on a mission to scoop up it all.

While the collection was once packed into Parrett’s basement, eventually he purchased a former American Legion building in Wausaukee, pop. 523, and created a wonderland called Garry’s Land of Oz Museum.

There are more than 20,000 items in Parrett’s quirky museum and it’s one of the most extensive Oz collections in the country.

The museum has 10 themed rooms and they are packed with everything from Oz tea cups to Oz jigsaw puzzles. While the individual pieces are interesting, what’s really amazing is to step back take take in the sweep and the breadth this mountain of Oz mechanize and memorabilia.

A one hour and 53 minute film led to something much larger than its iconic cast of characters and famous lines, and you’ll find it all and more, in the little village of Wausaukee.

The Land of Oz Museum in Wausaukee, Wisconsin, is open by appointment, from April until the first weekend of October. Learn more on the museum’s Facebook page. There are a lot of surprising discoveries to uncover in Marinette County – here’s a backcountry waterfall that is simply amazing.