Silver Dollar City launches new outdoor festival

Kevin McClintock, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Apr. 17—BRANSON, Mo. — Silver Dollar City has been linked to a number of thrill rides over the years, such as the new Mystic River Falls, the Time Traveler and Outlaw Run. But the 1880s theme park is reaching back to its roots with a brand-new outdoor experience dubbed "Street Fest."

For decades, Silver Dollar City has been linked to food and live entertainment. Both are spotlighted in the new festival, which runs through May 2. The festival will take place Thursdays through Sundays inside Southwest Missouri's No. 1 tourist attraction, park officials said.

The festival's main attraction is a "tasting passport." With this in hand, park guests can select their own tasting tour of the park's various eateries. Selections can include a "chocolate thrill ride triple dip cone," a "wagon works grilled turkey drumette," street tacos, sweet nachos, "Hatfield's tater patch chicken skewers," and a traditional 3-inch funnel cake topped with powdered sugar and three dipping sauces.

"Food is simply one of our things," said Sam Hedrick, Silver Dollar City's food director. The theme park has been awarded multiple times over the decades for its foods. "We have worked hard for decades to always be on the cutting edge of flavors, trends, traditional favorites and homestyle selections."

The passport, Hedrick continued, "grants guests a variety of sampling, all for a reasonable price."

People can choose between spending $30 for five tasting items or spending $10 more for five tasting options plus a refillable souvenir mug. Participating park restaurants providing dishes include the Tater Patch, Lady Liberty, Dockside Grill and the new Rivertown Smokehouse, Hedrick said.

As far as entertainment options are concerned, plenty will be going on along town streets and atop outdoor stages. There will be the international Disa Stilt Walker, teeterboard performers, trick roller-skaters, bike stunt riders, a precision card thrower, a professor who teaches the electromagnetic musical instrument called the theremin, musicians with steel drums, a one-man walking band, a unicyclist as well as a juggler, among others.