Historic site set to close in Whitby

Cullen Gardens, Miniature Village closing Jan. 1 Attraction part of Durham landscape for 25 years

There’s a little sadness in Sue Cullen- Green’s eye as she peers down on the little Christmas parade that winds along the streetscape in her little town scene.

For 25 years, Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village in Whitby has been one of the biggest tourist attractions east of Toronto, drawing up to 350,000 visitors a year from around the world. But declining attendance and skyrocketing costs are forcing her to close the place down on Jan. 1 at the end of its silver anniversary season.

“ It’s a tough decision, but we’ve been losing money for a few years now,” said the 56year- old daughter of Len Cullen, the founder and former nursery magnate. The site along Lynde Creek, with its rolling hills and valleys covered with flowers in the summer and 160 scenes of local historic homes in its miniature village, is more than a business for Cullen- Green. She began coming to the land, on Taunton Rd. west of Highway 12, as a teenager when her dad bought the property in 1966 so his family could escape from Scarborough in the summer. Back then it was in the middle of nowhere. Today, the once- rural landscape is swallowed up by development, with a residential subdivision just across the road.

“ My dad was a pioneer in the tourist industry out here in Durham Region,” Cullen- Green said. “ He dreamed of having his own garden that everyone could visit and enjoy.

“ But at 80 my dad is still a savvy businessman and he has seen the decline in business here. “A tourist attraction takes a fair amount of money that you have to continually pour back in. We felt that it was right to close our doors now, on our own terms.”

Cullen- Green, who owns the site, is the eldest of five children, including brother Mark Cullen, who became a gardening guru on radio and TV with his Weall and Cullen garden centres. She said she has no immediate plans to sell the property for development, although it’s a prime location on the edge of suburbia.

Peter LeBel, Whitby’s director of community and marketing services, said the entire 49- hectare site will obviously be targeted by developers who have already bought nearby properties. He said the loss of Cullen Gardens will be big because with it goes jobs and all the people who visited Whitby to see it.

Cullen- Green said the attraction never fully recovered from the damage to local tourism due to the 2003 SARS outbreak.

Attendance has dropped substantially — to less than 250,000 this year — and rising costs have kept the place in the red.

“ It takes the Americans a while to decide to start coming back again,” she said. “ And since the 9/ 11 terror attacks, the cost of insurance at public attractions like this has gone through the roof,” she said. “ We’d hoped this would have been a turnaround year, our 25th year, but it just didn’t happen.” She broke the bad news to staff last week. The closing will cost 25 full- time employees and 50 seasonal workers their jobs. Among them is Pat Trumbley, hostess at Cullen’s Grill and Grape restaurant, which remains open until Jan. 8. She joined the Cullen team more than four years ago after a 30year career in health care.

“ I thought this would be the ideal place to work, to spend life

among the trees and

flowers,” said Trumbley, 55. “ I brought my

kids here 25 years ago

when it opened,” she

said. “ It will be missed,

especially for those of

us who have lived in

the community for a long time,” she said.

“ Ironically, what we’re getting here in the past few days are people coming in and saying, ‘ Oh, no, you can’t be closing.’ It’s like everyone has taken for granted that this beautiful place would be here forever.”

That’s what Maria Krzysztosiak of Oshawa hoped. She gets a yearly pass and often brings special needs children. “ You can’t find anything like this anywhere around Toronto,” she said. Among the attractions is historic Lynde House, built during the War of 1812. Cullen- Green said the house can be moved, but she doesn’t know what will happen with all the miniatures.

“ Wouldn’t it be nice if it all could just stay the same.”