High Chaparral invests in new Big Bengt 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.

High Chaparral , 1994 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 throughout Sweden as Big Bengt, has been somewhat overshadowed for many years. Everything that Big Bengt acquired over the years has been collected and displayed here without any real focus. That is about to change.
– We want to highlight Big Bengt's great interests and what he was passionate about – emigration from Småland, the pioneer spirit, and entrepreneurship. There are lots of interesting things among everything he bought that are not given the space they deserve.

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's 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, who is
for 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 for both 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. That's how we see the museum too.

Today, many of Big Bengt's objects are gathering dust. It has therefore been decided that anything that has no genuine connection to Big Bengt as a person or value to 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. "Big Bengt has meant a lot to the community, so it's only right that he gets a really nice museum.