High Chaparral builds new museum

- Now Big Bengt and the entrepreneurship he stood for will get a really nice museum. He and all that he stood for are really worth it.

Emil Erlandsson, grandson of Big Bengt and owner of High Chaparral with his brother Philip Erlandsson, talks about the theme park's big plans. The small museum dedicated to the legendary founder of the Wild West park Bengt Erlandsson, known as Big Bengt throughout Sweden, has for many years lived in obscurity. Everything that Big Bengt bought over the years has been collected and displayed here without any real focus. That will change now.

- We want to highlight Big Bengt's great interests and what he was passionate about - emigration from Småland, the settler spirit and entrepreneurship. There is a lot of interesting stuff among everything he bought that does not get the space it should have.

Big Bengt was not only an entrepreneur and visionary, he was also a businessman. If a good deal came along, he was reluctant to pass it up. That's why some of what is now in the museum has little to do with Big Bengt or is of any interest to visitors.

- To make it really good, we're getting help from Ingmarie Halling, Creative Director/Curator of ABBA the Museum in Stockholm. We have also hired bsv architects & engineers who have worked with Vandalorum, Filmbyn Småland and Källemo.

Emil Erlandsson emphasizes that it is important for them that the museum finds a good balance between entertainment, history and learning. This is also how they think about the park.

- We have a responsibility both with the park and the museum. The park is, of course, primarily a theme park, but we are constantly working to tell the story of the Wild West. We see the museum in the same way.

Today, many of Big Bengt's objects are gathering dust. Therefore, it has been decided that anything that has no genuine connection to Big Bengt as a person or value for the museum will be auctioned off. The money raised will be invested in the new museum, which is expected to be completed in May 2020, while the old museum will be closed.

- Big Bengt has meant a lot to the community so it is only right that he gets a really nice museum.

The assignment to manage the auction has been given to Helsingborgs Auktionsverk. The auction and viewing will take place in October. Cecilia Öhrn Bonard, branch manager at Helsingborgs Auktionsverk, is convinced that the auction will attract great interest.

- Big Bengt is a household name. I also think that the press surrounding the new museum will help. What High Chaparral is doing is truly a cultural achievement.