Remember 'Fairyland?' The decades-old characters have reappeared

TAMPA, Fla. - If you were a kid in Tampa 30 or 40 years ago, you remember Fairyland. It was full of life-sized storybook characters. For many kids, it was the main attraction at Lowry Park.

"We had Fairyland and it was available to us and free," says Tampa native Mario Nunez. "It was a magical place for us." 

But, time passed and Fairyland lost its luster. The characters were taken down years ago, but now they've reappeared. They're outside a city garage near MacDill AFB. They were squirreled away by city workers years ago. 

"They couldn't let them go. They were too special," says Robin Nigh, the city's art manager.

"We've got Peter Pan, The Three Little Pigs, Little Miss Muffet. And, we've got the tuffet somewhere," she laughed.

Nigh is searching for someone who might restore and display the figures.

"I'd like to see these figures refurbished back to their original state and maybe left somewhere in the city limits."

Wherever they go, their surprising return will remind us of a simpler time when kids in Tampa found magic in Fairyland.