Branson’s Silver Dollar City is a dining adventure
Potempa: Silver Dollar City, which celebrated its 60th anniversary “diamond jubilee” in 2020, has succeeded in blending the best of both worlds, the exciting and new cleverly contrasted with everything that is enchantingly charming of yesteryear.
When invited to spend my pal’s 40th birthday in Branson, Missouri, at Silver Dollar City last month, stepping back into history is an invitation I never pass up.
Silver Dollar City, which celebrated its 60th anniversary “diamond jubilee” in 2020, has succeeded in blending the best of both worlds, the exciting and new cleverly contrasted with everything that is enchantingly charming of yesteryear.
My first visit to Silver Dollar City was at age 6 in the summer of 1977 with my parents and my older sister Pam. Forty-five years later, I’m still amused by this unique, family-owned amusement park which began, as the locals like to say, as nothing more than “a hole in the ground.”
But not just any hole, this original claim-to-fame is Marvel Cave, which remains open today for tours near the entrance of the amusement park. Hugo and Mary Herschend of Chicago traveled from the Windy City to see the tourist draw of the caverns, which were originally operated as an attraction founded by cave enthusiast William Henry Lynch in the late 1800s before his daughters, affectionately known to locals as “the Lynch Sisters,” took over the family business.
By the 1950s, the Herschend Family, with sons Jack and Peter, took over the cave attraction, which drew as many as 50,000 visitors a year.
As a way to keep waiting lines entertained before
their turn to tour the cave, the above-ground tourist landscape was designed around the cave entrance and dubbed Silver Dollar City. It was unveiled on May 1, 1960. Initially, true to its name, the amusement park issued only “silver dollars” when making change to patrons as an ingenious marketing idea. Today, parent company Herschend Family Entertainment owns or has partnerships with 24 properties in nine states around the country.
Like any amusement park, food is a showcase highlight at Silver Dollar City, but with the added bonus of Silver Dollar
City’s attention to fine detail for homemade artisan accolades, including
the culinary arts. As a kid, I remember being mesmerized by the quaint shops with dedicated workers in turn-of-the-century Ozark Mountains colonial garb, hard at work in candy kitchens making peanut brittle, fudge and sticky taffy, and bakeries buzzing with busy activities around hot ovens where fresh bread, cakes and pies emerged on heavy wooden paddles.
Today, not only are all of those same original eatable draws still appeasing appetites of all ages, but additional new restaurants and bakeries are also brimming with tempting menu favorites ranging from warm cinnamon bread to mouth-watering fried chicken, turkey legs, hearty breakfast fare, meatloaf and fresh cornbread.
The newest additions to Silver Dollar City are two ride attractions and a smokehouse BBQ hall, all just a stone’s throw away from the heart of the Main Street focal point town square.
Named the “Time Traveler,” Silver Dollar City’s new better-buckle-up thrill ride is billed as “the world’s fastest, steepest and tallest spinning coaster.” Carrying a $26 million price tag,
it sports three inversions, ranking it as the most ever for a spinning coaster, with a 95-foot tall vertical loop and two launches propelling riders to unprecedented speeds while remaining smooth along the track trail.
Mystic River Falls, a round spinning raft ride which promises drenched daredevils “the tallest drop on a raft ride in the Western Hemisphere,” opened last year at a cost of $23 million and features 6,000 tons of landscaping rocks along the river rapids terrain which includes a 45-foot splashdown drop.
The scenic Mystic River Falls route snakes alongside the new $4 million Rivertown Smokehouse headed by Sam Hedrick who has been with Silver Dollar City
for nearly 30 years and now serves as director of food and beverage for the entire amusement park.
“We have two huge smokers that are constantly fired up to handle the more than 250 chickens, 700 pounds of brisket and 200 slabs of ribs we are serving up to hungry guests,” Hedrick told me.
“On a busy day, we are feeding as many as 500 guests an hour with trays loaded with our smoked turkey, pulled pork, sausage and all of our custom sides like sweet bread and butter pickles, baked beans, grilled Brussel sprouts and our creamy mac and cheese. No one ever goes away hungry and diners get to watch the cascading river rafts of Mystic River Falls along the waterway.”
For more information and history, visit www. silverdollarcity.com. One of the prized recipe favorites at Rivertown Smokehouse is the delectable candied pecan warm bread pudding. Making candied pecans, christened as “pralines” on southern menus, is surprisingly easy, as referenced in the recipe showcased in Silver Dollar City’s “Christmas Memories Cookbook Vol. II,” published in 2017.