Silver Dollar City’s New Bluegrass & BBQ Festival Presents the Best of Roots Music and an All-American ‘House of BBQ’

Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ is an all-new festival that sizzles with the upbeat sounds of American bluegrass music, along with the aromas and flavors of a huge all-American barbecue. The new festival features the most talented artists of the popular roots music genre, from bluegrass legends to rising starts, as barbecue specialties from around the country are served up hot and spicy, from pit-style cooking on the Square to a feast at the House of BBQ. Bluegrass & BBQ debuts May 21 and runs daily through June 5 at the theme park near Branson, MO.

The festival serves up a musical feast with more than 430 performances over 16 days. Grand Ole Opry star and double Grammy winner Marty Stuart performs May 28, headlining a lineup of national touring bluegrass bands on stages throughout the park, continuing the park’s reputation of being “one of the most significant and vital presenters of live bluegrass music anywhere in the world,’ according to the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Visiting bands include Grammy nominee and 2004 Dove Award winner Blue Highway, ten-time SPBGMA “Entertaining Band of the Year” Rarely Hear, 1997 Dove Award winner The Issacs, 2003 SPBGMA International Band Champions the Randy Kohrs Band, as well as hot new artists such as NewFound Road.

Taking center stage for dining is the House of BBQ, an entire barn full of barbecue flavors, with grill styles from smoky Texas-style barbecue to sweet Kansas City favorites, Memphis dry rubs and Carolina vinegar-based sauces, served up home-style with roasted corn on the cob, potato salad, watermelon and fresh-squeezed lemonade. The barbecue banquet begins on the Square with demonstrations of pit-style cooking and hundreds of sauces to sample, compiled from around the country.

The combination of entertainment with the large number of performances, the food event and the park’s attractions is something no other bluegrass festival can offer, said D.A. Callaway, the Bluegrass & BBQ music coordinator. “Silver Dollar City began hosting bluegrass events in 1975, and we found that bluegrass harmonies, acoustic instruments and traditionalism make this type of music a favorite with our guests. Add America’s favorite food and we’ve got a great festival.”

Young bluegrass artists from around the country compete for honors and cash prizes as the park hosts the Youth in Bluegrass Band Contest, May 28-29.

Each evening, Silver Dollar City’s Echo Hollow Amphitheater features Classic Country Nights, with Jim Dandy and the Time Machine Band along with a cast of 10 talented singers and dancers performing the top country hits of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. A special guest bluegrass group from the day’s performances will perform in the show each night.

Silver Dollar City also features rides and attractions including PowderKeg, a new super launch roller coaster that launches riders from 0 to 53 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds, five festivals, a dozen restaurants and over 100 demonstrating craftsmen.

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Powder Keg Blasts Riders 0-53 mph in 2.8 Seconds

The Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson, Missouri is presenting an all-new super launch coaster for Spring 2005 that shoots riders into a thrill zone within seconds of climbing aboard, launching them from 0 to 53 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds. Constructed within the forests of the Ozark Mountains and winding down a hillside, Powder Keg is a family thrill ride unlike any other in the history of the park. It combines launching speed with spiraling turns, negative gravitational or “G” forces, and “floater” hills to create a thrill ride of great magnitude. In addition, it’s packaged in an environmentally sound design.

“An air launch system like this is amazing – there is great launching speed yet virtually no impact on the environment,” said Stan Checketts, founder and CEO of Powder Keg manufacturer S&S Power of Logan, Utah. S&S is the world’s leading manufacturer of compressed-air rides and the largest ride manufacturer in the United States.

Checketts said Powder Keg is one of only three like it in the world that uses clean compressed air technology for incredibly fast and energy-efficient acceleration. “Unlike traditional mechanical or hydraulic systems, this technique runs cleanly, and the ride runs smoothly while soaring through the trees at speeds up to 64 miles per hour.”

A $10 million project, Powder Keg takes riders from the initial big blast up a lift to a 110-foot drop, into spiraling and dragonfly banked turns, through a wave of floater hills with negative G forces, giving riders the experience of weightlessness above the trees. As required by Silver Dollar City policy, only those trees that had to be removed were, with three additional trees planted elsewhere for every one removed.

In keeping with Silver Dollar City’s internationally-awarded commitment to bringing the colorful history of regions to life, Powder Keg salutes the miners who worked in the great Marvel Cave, which is located below the theme park. In the late 1880s, tons of nitrogen-rich bat guano were hauled out of the cave’s massive sinkhole using an archaic pulley system. The guano was taken by stagecoach and railroads to powder mills across the state and the country where it was used to make valuable black powder.

“The Powder Keg ride begins in a powder mill amid barrels of nitro-explosives that rock and tip,” said Brad Thomas, general manager of Silver Dollar City. “As the nitro ‘explodes,’ the cars blast out of the building with special effects of fire and smoke shooting through the roof!” While the ride offers thrills, it has been designed to accommodate families. Anyone over 42 inches in height can ride, which is roughly a five or six-year-old, said Thomas, who cites guest surveys that resoundingly requested a family thrill ride as the reason for choosing Powder Keg.

A trip on Powder Keg lasts nearly three minutes and spirals around six acres on 3,500 feet of track. The ride carries more than 1,000 people per hour with 16 passengers per train. Silver Dollar City’s Corporate Development team and the Maintenance & Construction Division are handling theming and construction.

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Silver Dollar City blasts into 2005 with a new explosive-launch roller coaster, Powder Keg; a new Bluegrass & BBQ festival combining the hot sounds of American bluegrass music with an all-American favorite food; and a new Salute to the American Cowboy within the Festival of American Music & Crafts. New for Kids’ Fest, “Newton’s Revenge” is a live show that explores the zany side of science, and the “Purina Dog Team Challenge” presents world-champion Frisbee-catching dogs in amazing team competitions. Throughout the season, the 1880s-style theme park features music and entertainment, demonstrating craftsmen, themed rides and foods from festival specialties to home-cooked feasts.

Opening in Spring, the new $10 million roller coaster Powder Keg sends riders into a thrill zone within seconds of climbing aboard, launching riders from 0 to 53 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds. A thrill ride unlike any other in the history of the theme park, Powder Keg combines the shocking speed of the compressed air-launch with spiraling turns, negative gravitational or “G” forces, and “floater” hills at speeds up to 64 miles per hour for a truly wild ride experience, billed as a “blast in the wilderness.”

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