What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1350124
MARCH 14-20, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 3 FAQ Silver Dollar City WHEN — Opens March 17 WHERE — Branson, Mo. COST — Season tickets start at $128 INFO — silverdollarcity.com FYI SDC 2021 Festivals Spring Ride Days — March 17-21; March 24-28; April 2-3; & April 10-11: Spring Ride Days includes performances by After Grace, Saturdays & Sundays, March 20-April 11; Adelaide, Wednesday-Friday, March 17-April 9; Lindley Creek, March 17-April 11; and Prince Ivan, March 17-April 11. Street Fest — New April 17-May 2: With performances by concert cellist Elena Bosworth; precision card thrower Rick Smith Jr.; the Diabolo Diva, Maria Wolf; teeter board performers We Flip Enter- tainment; steel drummer Ken Arnsbarger; bike stunts by the Zemen Duo; one-man- band Eric Haines; two-time National Buck Dancing champion and fiddler Hillary Klub; Professer Wes Weasley & His Amaz- ing Theremin; and juggling unicyclist Mike Bliss. A new Tasting Passport will also be offered, including turkey wings, fried ravioli nachos, fry bread, Belgian waffles, waffle cones with sweet & sour pork or orange chicken and Minute Maid whip. Bluegrass & BBQ — May 14-31: With perfor- mances by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, May 14-15; Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road, May 14-15; Kenny and Amanda Smith Band, May 20; The Trailblazers, May 22-23; Route 3, May 29; and more to be announced. A new Tasting Passport will also be offered, including funnel cakes, kettle corn, waffle cones, a tater twist dog, fried corn on the cob, pulled barbe- cued pork and more. Summer Concert Series — Taking place at Echo Hollow and featuring Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to the Beatles' Abbey Road, June 4; The Best of ABBA, June 5; Contemporary Christian artist Mack Brock, June 11; and Vertical Worship, June 12. Moonlight Madness — Featuring Chris Tomlin, July 24; Eastern Heights, July 25-Aug. 8; Gazebo Street Dance with Prince Ivan, July 24-Aug. 8; and Mad Science, July 24-Aug. 8. Southern Gospel Picnic — Aug. 27-Sept. 6: With the Hoppers, Aug. 27; the Whis- nants, Aug. 28; the Booth Brothers, Aug. 29; Triumphant Quartet, Aug. 31; Jeff & Sherri Easter, Sept. 1; Gold City, Sept. 2; The Guardians, Sept. 3; Karen Peck & New River, Sept. 4; The Isaacs, Sept. 5; and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, Sept. 6. Country Music Days — With Collin Raye, Sept. 10; Blackhawk, Sept. 11; and more to be announced. Crafts & Harvest Festival — Coming in Octo- ber. INFO — silverdollarcity.com Back To The Future Silver Dollar City ready to celebrate BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette W hen adventurers in the 1880s lowered themselves 200 feet via rope to explore a beautiful limestone cavern in southwestern Missouri, they couldn't have imagined what the next 140 years would hold. The legend began when Scientific American magazine described the cave in 1885, and word of the natural wonder spread across the country. Then Canadian mining expert William Henry Lynch read of the cave, purchased it sight unseen, traveled to the Ozarks and, with his two daughters, opened what he called Marvel Cave to public tours in 1894. By the 1920s, the cave was a well-established attraction, and tourists could get there by road or by hiking from a nearby train stop. In 1946, the Herschend family, vacationing from Chicago, fell in love with the attraction and the area and leased Marvel Cave from the Lynch family. And in 1960, the Herschends opened the village they called Silver Dollar City, complete with a blacksmith shop, a general store, an ice cream parlor, a doll shop and two authentic 1800s log structures. Since then, the theme park has seen more than 80 million guests, has grown to cover more than 110 acres and is home to thrill rides that exist nowhere else in the world. It's employed more than 40,000 people, won national and international tourism awards and produced Broadway calibre shows like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Dickens Christmas Carol." The only thing Silver Dollar City couldn't do in 2020 was celebrate its 60th anniversary as the blow- out, year-long event that had excitedly been planned. Covid-19 kept the park from opening as scheduled last March and delayed the first day of the season until June 13. A new $23 million water ride, Mystic River Falls, opened July 21, but without the fanfare that had been expected for the "tallest drop on a water raft ride in the Western Hemisphere" and a "one-of-a-kind rotating, four-platform, eight-story lift." The ride and the area surrounding it — which includes Rivertown Smokehouse BBQ and a new Cinnamon Bread Bakery — were "a culmination of years of guest feedback," Brad Thomas, president of Silver Dollar City Attractions, said then. "The only place on the planet to experience this ride is right here at Silver Dollar City. Mystic River Falls is packed with unique thrills that the family can enjoy together." The $26 million, record-breaking Time Traveler roller coaster features three inversions — the most on a spinning coaster, including a 95-foot tall vertical loop — and two launches that send riders to unprecedented speeds. (Courtesy Photo/Silver Dollar City) See Future Page 4 RIDE ALONG! At nwaonline.com/mysticriverfalls314/ COVER STORY