Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP. 186 | feat. Marc Baum & Monica Kinner from the All Things Oz Museum (Oz-Stravaganza)

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

Inside Chittenango’s All Things Oz Museum & the 49th Oz-Stravaganza Festival Host Noah Chrysler interviews Mark Baum and Monica Kinner of the All Things Oz Museum (International L. Frank Baum and All Things Oz Historical Foundation) in Chittenango, a 501(c)(3) founded in 2011 that now holds 18,000+ Oz items across a museum and two annexes, spanning original Baum materials through Wicked and other modern Oz productions. They preview Oz-Stravaganza, a three-day, free-admission festival (49th annual; about 30,000 attendees) featuring vendors, fireworks, a parade, evening guest programs hosted by Oz historian John Fricke, kids’ runs, costume contest, silent auctions, and museum hours (10–5; $12 admission) with three new exhibits kept secret. Guests include Baum’s great-granddaughter Gita Dorothy Morena, filmmaker Hugh Gross, and Wicked actor Marissa Bode, plus authors and artists. They also share notable artifacts, including a first-edition Wizard of Oz mailed untracked and costumes from The Wiz, Wicked, and other productions. 00:00 A Priceless Book Arrives 00:09 Meet the Oz Museum Team 00:52 Inside All Things Oz Museum 02:50 Oz Stravaganza Festival Preview 03:30 Guests and Weekend Highlights 06:37 Museum Hours and New Exhibits 07:25 The 135000 Dollar Mail Surprise 09:08 Wicked Boom and New Fans 11:25 Rare Items and Donation Stories 15:21 Baum Roots in Central New York 18:44 Why You Should Go This Weekend 21:13 Closing and Sponsor Message

We got a 126-year-old book, well, 125 years old when we got it last year. And he just sent it in the mail. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Good News York. My name is Noah Chrysler. Today, I am sitting down with Mark and Monica. Guys, welcome to the show. Thanks. Thanks for having us. Absolutely.

Go ahead and introduce yourselves. Well, I'm Monica Kinner, and I am the vice president of the All Things Oz Museum in Chittanango. Our larger name is the International Elfring Bomb and All Things Oz Historical Foundation. Awesome. Yeah. That's a lot for a roadside sign. Indeed, it is. I'm Mark Baum. I'm a president of the International L. Frank Baum and All Things Oz Historical Foundation.

Cool. Wonderful. So you guys work at, I'm going to call it the Oz Museum. Sure, sure. All Things Oz. That's us, yeah. Wonderful. So the Oz Museum is, All Things Oz Museum is in Chittango. It's a building that houses the Oz Museum. And you said that there was a lot of, tell us about the Oz Museum. And then tell us also about this event that you have coming up this weekend. Okay, sure. So we're a 501C3 nonprofit and a chartered historical. The Historical Foundation. And it started back in 2011. There was a gentleman retiring, a collector, and he said, would you like to buy the collection?

And we were running the festival for the chamber at the time, the Ostravaganza festival. And we said yes and pooled our money together and bought this collection. And then the video store had just gone out of business. So we rented the old video store and put it in there and charged everybody two bucks to come see it during Oz weekend. And that was great. Since then, we got our 501c3. we became chartered.

And now we have over 18,000 pieces, our museum plus two annex buildings. And we're open year-round. And it is the place for really all things, Oz, from original books and family memorabilia from L. Frank Baum, right up through things from the Wicked Movies and the showing of the MGM film at the Sphere in Las Vegas. So we've got like everything in between. Yeah, it's really amazing. And Monica heads the collection committee.

and it's just some really cool pieces that we have. Yeah, we've really become the depository for people's collections when they're downsizing, and it's really been great because sometimes they have this rare piece that we've never seen. We actually just had a little bit of a collection donated to us, and there were things in there we had never seen, and it's really exciting for us, and they could just be the little tiniest little trinket things, or maybe it's a big poster we've never seen. It just, there's so much Oz out there.

I mean, you're looking at, we're moving into almost 90 years of the 1939 movie, but we are at 126 years from the book. So from the book to the movie to the new Oz universes that are coming out, it's just we need a bigger building. I love it. Cool. Beautiful, tell us about this event that's happening this weekend. So Oz Travaganza is the world's largest and longest running Wizard of Oz theme festival,

and this is the 49th annual event, started in 1970. and it's really great. It's three days. It takes over Chittanango. We get about 30,000 people over the weekend to our little village. And if you've never been to Chittanago, Chittanango has Yellowbrick Road sidewalks. We take our Oz very seriously. And there's the normal kind of rides and games and vendors and all that stuff.

But then we bring in special guests in the Oz universe. So this year we have six authors and artists who are currently doing Oz projects and working in the Oz universe there, who will be there to meet and greet and sign. and, you know, you can get their stuff. And then we've got four special guests this year. We've got Gita Dorothy Morena, who is El Frank Baum's great-granddaughter. And, excuse me, she's coming in. We loved having her and talking about the family and kind of all the things.

And she's written a book called The Wisdom of Oz that kind of talks about she's a therapist and how she uses Oz in her therapy. We've got Hugh Gross coming this year, which is very exciting. He wrote and directed the film After the Wizard. And we're doing a 15th anniversary showing of that Thursday night at the Manlias Cinema. And he's going to do a question and answer afterwards, which is great. And then I think he's appearing down at the museum Friday morning. Friday morning at 10 a.m.

He'll be at the museum doing a signing for about an hour. And throughout the weekend, he'll be down at the park, Dr. West Park, where we have all sorts of vendors and rides and games, you name it. It's there. And that's where our authors and artists will be. And then we have Marissa Bowie joining us this year who played Nessa Rose in the Wiccan. films. So we're very excited to have her coming in. She'll be here Saturday only because she's actually filming another movie. So she's flying in from L.A. to do our festival for her day and then flying

back to L.A. to continue working on the movie she's working on. So yeah. So we're excited to have her and we're not going to drop a house on her. So it's all good. And then our event is hosted by John Fricky. And you know, it's a fun story with John. John Frickie wrote a book for the 50th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz. It came out in 1989. And the green book, as it's called, in the Oz circle. And then in 1990, we called and said, hey, would you come host our festival in Chittanango? He lives in New York City.

And he said, yes. And that was great. Since then, he's written nine more bestselling books. He's produced a couple movies on Judy Garland. He actually won two Emmy Awards. He got a Grammy nomination. He became the spokesperson for Warner Brothers. If you have the DVD or the Blu-ray,

or you digitally put it on the commentator track, he's the guy talking. He's a, the spokesperson for the Smithsonian for the Ruby Slippers and the Scarecrow costume, and he's a host on Turner Classic Movies, and nobody told him he's too big a star to come to Chitt Nango every year, so he still comes and hosts our event every year, which is awesome. So we're excited to have him back. So it's a great guest lineup, and then there's, you know, all kinds of things that go on. Friday night, there's fireworks. Of course, the museum's open all three days.

We've got Saturday, there's a kids fun run, the Munchkin Mile Fun Run, and Hoto's Toddler Trot. There's a costume contest. Each day of the festival has a silent auction with Osmermobilia plus local things, you know, gift certificates to different restaurants and things. Sunday is our grand finale. And then Friday and Saturday evenings, there's an evening program where John does it talk show style and kind of interviews the guests.

So that's great. And the best part is it's all free. It's free parking, free admission. The evening programs are free. So it's great. It's a great way to meet the guests. The whole festival all weekend is free. Big parade Saturday.

Yeah, you're going to buy food and trinkets, you're going to pay for those, you know, if you're getting stuff from the vendors or food or riding the rides. But yeah, the whole festival and meet and greets, all that. It's all free. Wow. And as Mark mentioned, the museum is open. It is open from 10 to 5 Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And so come on down and see us. There is admission to get into the museum.

It's $12 per person to come in. But we are unveiling new exhibits. Friday, three new exhibits. We will be unveiling them to our members, first thing in the morning. Friday morning and then to the general population over the weekend. So we're very excited about that. We're unveiling three new exhibits this year. Awesome.

Yeah, let's hear about the exhibits. What three new exhibits are you? I can't tell you anything. Oh, really? Top secret exhibits. Well, last year, we had four, and we were very excited about those. We did unveil our first edition of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz that was donated to us by Robert Baum, who is Alphraing Baum's great grandson, so that was very exciting.

So that's still out on exhibit. And it's a weird thing. we got a 126-year-old book, well, 125 years old when we got it last year. And he just sent it in the mail. Really? Yeah, but you had not insured. He just got it media mail. No, no tracking.

Didn't tell us it was coming. And we didn't know was coming. We were expecting a book from him, but a different one. And all of a sudden we opened up this $135,000 book that was just mailed in the U.S. mail to us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's good times. It's never a dull moment at the museum.

And we also unveiled a 1975 lion costume from the Wiz. Ted Ross's Lion costume, which is a showstopper in and of itself. From the Broadway production. It's awesome. And Wizard of Oz and Ice costume. Actually, they came skating through Syracuse last March in 2025 and came to the museum. And they donated a Dorothy costume to us. So we thought that was very cool.

And it's the original one that's on their posters, which was kind of fun. So we got the original Dorothy costume. You put the poster next to it. Yeah. Yeah. And then our big unveiling was our Shiz exhibit. So we do have costumes from Wicked Part 1 and Wicked for Good. These costumes were used in both movies, both wicked movies.

So that was our really big unveiling reveal. So this year we have three new exhibits. Well, one's kind of an addition to an current exhibit, if I may. So to clue you went on that, last year we celebrated 10 years of Ozland. with Michael Williams, the director, and he maybe sent us some more stuff to put in our new exhibit. It might be something that you brought out. Very exciting. Cool.

So we're pretty excited to unveil these new exhibits. It's neat. It's going to be great. Wonderful. Yeah, I mean, with Wicked coming out, like, the last couple years, I mean, I bet that that's been crazy for you guys. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah, those movies were huge, obviously. The Oz universe is alive and well, right?

So the Wicked movies came out. We did some events. We work closely with Gregor McGuire, who wrote the books, and Stephen Schwartz, who did the music and lyrics for Wicked. So we were involved and did some special screenings and had some nice video messages from those guys and different cast members. So that was great. But it's a funny kind of shift in the demographic of who comes to the museum. Now that the Wicked movies are out. So we get people in.

We had people pretty much every. Everybody had seen, you know, the Judy Garland film, The Wizard of Oz. Like, that was just a standard thing when they came in. They may or may not have known there are 40 books in the series, you know, and the movie is based on part of book one. My goodness. So they might not have known that. But we educate on those things.

That's the chartered historical foundation part coming out. But now with Wicked being so prominent with the movies, but, you know, with the musical, too, that started in 2003, we get people who haven't seen the 1939 film who come in, who their entry ramp to Oz is wicked. So they've literally, you know, they've seen wicked and then they're learning that there's a lot more. They knew there was another movie, but, you know, they're learning and they don't know, Oz is great and powerful or Muppets Wizard of Oz or all these different, you know, versions that are out there.

And so we get to educate them a little and have a lot of fun and see a lot of Oz stuff. Yeah, our exhibits span all the way from El Frank Baum as a baby. We have one baby picture of El Frank Baum without his mustache there. and then it goes all the way to the end to the current Las Vegas Fear production. So it's, again, we're running out of space, but it's so exciting to be able to change these exhibits. So every time you come in, there's something new to see.

And, you know, we give a tour, a guided tour. It takes about an hour to go through. And we don't talk about all, you know, 1,600 things that are on display because you'd be there until the following Tuesday. So it's highlights, right? And then you can go back through and take as long as you want and kind of read all the stuff and see. But we have about 200 items that are either very rare or unique that we have the one.

So we want to make sure you don't miss that when you're there. Like what? What are some of the highlights of the? Well, you know, the lion costume from the Wiz, certainly. One of the things, one of my favorite story to tell is March 13th. I know the date. March 13th of 2020. We got David Allen Greer's costume from Muppet Wizard of Oz.

He was Uncle Henry in that. And we got the costume. And March 15th, of course, the world shut down with COVID. For a year and a half, I was the only person who saw that costume. So then the board members, you know, we'd come in one at a time to the museum because everybody was social distance. And so we had that and couldn't show anybody. So that, we've got Milakunis's hand prosthetics from Oz the Great and Powerful when she was the Wicked Witch there. We've got lots of collectible stuff.

Munchkin costumes. Munchkin appearance costumes. We have three Munchkin appearance costumes. One of my favorite pieces is we do have a Margaret Hamilton doll. that was made in her likeness in the 1980s. It's from 1982. There were only 330 of them made her signatures in the Cape. And it's just, it's one of those pieces.

It was not for retail sale. And you only could get it by going to the doll convention that year. That was your gift for attending. So not many people have these, or maybe it's stuck in Grandma's closet, and they don't know what they have, but it's really a great piece. And what makes it a great piece for me is actually how we got it. It went up for auction and, you know, we're a 501c3. We don't have money, but we really like to watch auctions.

But it didn't sell. And someone, not naming names, maybe got in touch with the seller and said, you know, this is who we are. This is what we do. Can we like work something out? Maybe a payment plan because it had a really high reserve on it, like $12,000 or $13,000. Wow. And the seller said, you pay the shipping, you pay the insurance and it's yours. And this was before my time.

I've been involved for eight years, so this was before me. And it's grown substantially in this time, so we were much smaller then. But it's like someone saw enough in this little idea of a museum to be like, yes, this needs to be in your museum. People need to see this. And for the record, that's a very truncated version of that. There was a lot of back and forth with my friend who works at Sotheby's to get the information. And finally he said, yes, I'll give it to her. And then her lawyer had to check us out and make sure we were legitimate and back and forth.

and she sold it to us for shipping and insurance, basically. Wow. That's incredible. And now we get to share it with everybody. And that's the great thing about the museum, is we get to take these pieces and share not only the history of them and why they're important, but we get to preserve them, and we get to share them with everybody. And we have visitors from all 50 states and 30 countries around the world

who come to see us at the museum and who come to the festival. So it's really, it's a mecca-type trip for Oz fans to come to the birthplace of El Frank Baum, which is Chittango, you know, the kid. Born in Chittanago, grew up in Syracuse, got married in Fayetteville, and then wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the American Fairy Tale. And so that's exciting for us to have that kind of connectivity, especially in the museum.

And so, you know, there's a lot of really spectacular pieces that are there, and it's just a matter of what you like. And every tour is a little different. We all hit the same. All the tour guides will hit kind of the same things for the big items, because we don't want you to miss the lion costume and know what it is, right? Sure. Or the munchkin costumes or whatever.

But then it's kind of, it's a little more custom because your interest might be, you know, if you're really interested in the books, we'll talk more about the books and the different things there. If you're really into musicals, you know, we've got a lot of things from different musicals. So it's kind of a create your journey as you go through. We also have QR codes, excuse me, throughout the museum. So you can kind of at your own pace, you know, see things you can go back through and see more about information, more information about different exhibits. And then we also have a QR code series that's in American Sign Language. So we want to be as inclusive as possible and really kind of open it up, open up that experience for everybody. Wow.

That's awesome. So, yeah, so you mentioned that it is the place of the author. And I was talking to Danny earlier, and Danny knows a lot about the history of the Wizard of Oz a little bit about, more than I knew. We're always looking for volunteers, Danny. Come hang out. He mentioned that, like, Syracuse was the depiction of like the Emerald City, I think, or something similar. I don't know. Yeah, it could have been.

I mean, you know, Baum grew up here. There was a lot of things from the wooded trails over in North Syracuse, Cicero area, to, you know, Roslawn in Maddiedale now, where he grew up that certainly could have had an impact on Baum and, you know, Cedar Plank Roads and all kinds of things. You know, he had a lot of experiences in central New York. And the biggest one, I think, he met his future bride, Maude Gage on West Donondaga Street at his sister's house. And then they got married in Fayetteville. And the reason that's important is because that's at the Gage Center. Matilda Jocelyn Gage was a leader in the suffrage movement, fighting give women the right to vote in the 1800s, along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton. And she is widely credited with being the one who convinced Baum to write down his stories. So Frank failed at a lot of things before he became a writer, like a lot of things.

And, you know, she kind of instilled that in him, you should write down these stories that you keep telling to all the neighborhood kids. And so that connection is really important because without, you know, Gage, and I encourage everybody to go to the Gage Foundation Museum and visit them too because it's wonderful. I've been there recently, and it was my first time being in there, and I'm really ashamed to admit it. And the parlor where Frank and Maud were married, you, I feel, yes, I'm an Oz fan, yes, I'm a volunteer with this organization, and yes, it means a lot to me. but standing there, it's like, it's very overwhelming, especially being an Oz fan. It's like, I'm standing where he stood.

I know he stood here. And he had a major life moment in this building. And it comes at you. And it's interesting being in that parlor area and just like, who, takes you back a little. Like, I didn't want to leave that spot type thing. Yeah. It's like stepping into history, literally. It's as close as you can get to stepping into the past.

And, you know, so all that influence of growing up here in the area and the things that he saw and the things he experienced here. And, you know, and then his future mother-in-law, who became his mother-in-law, convincing him to write down his story. He's all led to what now is the American fairy tale. And, you know, the cool thing for us is not a day goes by that someone doesn't say, there's no place like home, or click your heels three times, or if I only had a brain, not in reference to the movie or the books, just an everyday conference. It's a part of Americana. It's a part of our lexicon. And that's cool for a kid who was born in Chittango, New York. No, absolutely. I think that's incredible. And I don't know. I know that the festival, I just remember, you know, my aunt going every single year, right? She has, like, the signed, you know, photos of munchkins and everything, you know, and she absolutely loved it. And so I know that the festival has had a huge impact on the area, and it means a lot to a lot of people. So that's really cool. Yeah, it's great. And at 49 years in, still going strong. And the weather's going to hold.

out, so it's going to be a good weekend for that. And yeah, we're excited about it. Cool. Wonderful. Okay, one more time. Why should people come this weekend? What are you excited about this weekend? And where can they get more information? All right. So you can go online to all things,oz.org, which is our main website, and you can click on the Oz stravaganza button, or you can go directly there at Oz dash stravaganza.com and get all the information on the festival. It runs Friday, Saturday,

and Sunday. Friday starts at 3 o'clock. You know, you can go online and get all the information and come and meet people that are writing current Oz books, doing current Oz art. I mean, that's great. We've got some really great authors and artists here. Come and see some people who are involved in the creation of Oz stuff like Hugh Gross and Marissa Bodie with the Oz movies. You know, you don't get a lot of opportunities to see them kind of in the wild, if you will. And so we're, and especially in Central New York.

So you get to see them. You get to just have a lot of fun and watch the costumes and see the parade and just be a part of something really special. Our costume characters are there Saturday and Sunday, and they're spectacular. This costume designer named Sean Ryan out of Florida really has created brilliant MGM-style costumes for our characters. They're the best dressed of anywhere. Of anybody. Yeah. So that's great.

You can get pictures. And again, you know, it's a free event. Saturday, we actually borrow the trams from the state fair. So the trams are running through town so you can get around. and it's just going to be awesome. And then the grand finale on Sunday, on Sunday morning, we give out the awards for the coloring contest for kids and then the writing competition, which is all ages.

So those awards are given. We've got music on the stage all three days, so we've got different local acts who come in and play all day every day. And then we've got the museum. You can go see the museum. Museum's open again from 10 to 5, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are offering guided tours. They are every hour on the hour.

So if you miss the one, there's another one starting right along. We're happy to give them. It's really fun. And some people will go on like each tour guide's one so they can have a different experience. The parade is at two on Saturday. But come early because the roads do close. Yeah, the roads close about 115. So you want to get your spot.

But the, yeah, the parade is awesome. And I think we have a really great lineup this year. We do. It's spectacular. So our costume characters will be in it. So wave to Glinda and the Wickewitch. And all of our guests this year will be in the parade too. So you'll get to see them on the parade route as well.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, cool, guys. Thank you so much for coming and thank you so much for sharing. And it's wonderful that, you know, this is right in the backyard here. And awesome. Thank you guys. Thanks for having us.

Absolutely. And ladies, you know, thank you for watching. Guys, Good News York is a program put on by ClickStream Studios. If you own a business in Central New York and you feel like your content marketing is a little bit of a mess. If you don't know what's opposed to social media, you're in luck. We are right now giving away free. content roadmaps. It will tell you what to post, when to post it, and who to post it for. You can meet with me for about 30 minutes. I will generate you a free content roadmap.

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