The Funny Farm is a longtime Central Oregon landmark.

”Farm Funny The,” as lettering on the building announces, is the quintessential roadside attraction. Also known as The Funny Farm, it’s an eccentric hodgepodge of antique googaws, wistfully eccentric displays and friendly farm animals.

I’d been whizzing by this place along U.S. Highway 97 for the past five years, occasionally making a mental note to pull in and have a look one of these days. Finally, I did.

A grand tour of the place kept me chuckling throughout and impressed by how wonderfully incongruous this all is.

There’s a garden of bowling balls (Gloriosa-Strike-A-Bunda seeds are for sale in the gift shop), a heart-shaped Cupid’s pond with a big arrow stuck in the middle (where Free Wedding Day brings out dozens of couples each year), a big built-in kaleidoscope and a larger-than-life chess board with PVC pieces that afford players the macro view.

But nothing says Farm Funny The like the miniature doll house Gene Carsey built years ago inside amid the display cases and eclectic potpourri. There, in an upper-floor living room, is a little television with Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion sharing screen time. It’s been a long run. ”The Wizard of Oz” has been on this tube playing almost continuously for the past 20 years or so (save for a few brief hours when a worn tape had to be replaced), Carsey explained.

”As Mayor of the Munchkin City …”

Carsey began following this yellow brick road 28 years ago on the other side of Highway 97 with Lucy, a pet goat that would climb up into a tree fort for a pickle. Carsey and his partner the late Mike Craven began charging visitors 25 cents a pickle to feed the animal. The platform was outfitted with a poker hand – a diamond flush.

”It was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” Carsey quipped.

The Funny Farm is at 64990 Deschutes Market Road on the east side of Highway 97 between Bend and Redmond. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. Most everything inside is for sale.