Janet visits Las Vegas of Country Music and sees shows, rodeos, and more...
Well, I'm not sure what I expected, but Branson certainly surprised me! This is the "Las Vegas" of country music (but without the gambling). The main strip in town is about 3 miles long, and every inch of hilly terrain is in some way tourist oriented.
On the East Coast, none of our friends had been to Branson, but I had heard there were many theaters and shows with mostly country music. If I had to estimate, I would have guessed about 10 to 12 theaters. I quickly learned Branson boasts 102 shows - yes THAT'S 102! In addition, they have 54 attractions, 377 restaurants, and 22,400 hotel/motel rooms.
Our first stop was for lunch at the Hard Luck Diner, the home of Branson's original singing servers. The menu claims "your favorite entertainers probably had a time of 'hard luck' on their road to stardom and so does our wait staff." The servers sing as you eat. It was great fun, and Don especially enjoyed being sung to by 2 waitresses at the same time.
We checked into our hotel, The Radisson, and then were off to see our first Branson show, "50s at the Hop," located in the shopping mall. The show is a 50s review featuring five musicians and 14 cast members. Two hours long, the show was very entertaining with many sing-a-long songs. I loved the music and was embarrassed to admit I remembered all of them, but I still sang along with the cast.
Branson is my kind of show town, and I was on a marathon mission! Our goal was to see 6 shows in 2 days, so off we raced to the "Dixie Stampede" for the 4:30pm show.
This was a unique experience for a Brooklyn girl. In a 35,000 square foot arena, the show featured 32 horses, riders, singers, dancers, racing pigs and ostriches. On top of all that, dinner is included, too! The owner of the Dixie Stampede is Dolly Parton. Her goal was to create "a western-style foot stomping and hand clapping show," and she did. It is billed as "Branson's Most Fun Place to Eat," and it was. We were served a three-course meal -- without any utensils! Since there were 1,000 people there for a show, I was amazed the food came out at the same time, and everything was hot. We started with a creamy vegetable soup, then rotisserie chicken and pork tenderloin with corn on the cob, potato wedges, and a homemade biscuit. The meal ended with a hot apple turnover washed down with soda. Then we relaxed with a cup of hot tea.
During peak season May through August, the Dixie Stampede puts on four shows a day, so that's a lot of chicken served! The original Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede Dinner and Show originated in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in 1988. This is the 3rd theater, which opened its doors in 1995.
The show revolves around a friendly North/South competition, dividing the arena into two sides. Between the action, games, and songs, you couldn't help but enjoy the beauty of the horses, the music, the elegant costumes, and the fun of audience participation.
All right, two shows down, and one more to go for today! After a few short turns in the road, we caught the 8:00 pm show of Bobby Vinton. The theater, the lobby, the gift shop and the curtains all reflected the hit song "Blue Velvet." In a town known for its country music roots, Bobby Vinton has a large following. He did most of his 50s and 60s standards with a great back-up band. His grown daughters and son are in the show, and they reflect their father's talent. To me, the highlight of the evening was seeing Bobby Vinton's mother come out resplendent in an evening gown to sing and dance. This woman had spunk and a glint in her eye. I immediately turned to Don and said, "Oh, I hope I'm like that at her age!" This show was a family affair as Bobby Vinton's granddaughter sang a duet with him also.
Mr. Vinton worked the crowd as he sang, stopping to kiss every lady who stood up for a picture with him. I even got a hug with my photo.
Well we did it - three shows in one day. We were exhausted, but had enough energy to walk to a Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone to top off a perfect day.
Our second day in Branson started with an early morning train ride on the Branson Scenic Railway. This 1-hour and 45-minute trip along Lake Taneycomo takes passengers back in time through the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. We rode through the southwest Missouri wilderness. There are several types of early 20th century historical cars on this train, but we chose a 1948 observation car to give us a spectacular view.
We met some great people during our ride. A crewmember from the train, Bob, made sure to tell us to see the Shoji Tabuchi show, since that was his personal favorite. Cody Ratcliff is a dancer from Illinois, working in Branson for the last 3 years at the show "Country Tonight." Darin Garoutte works in sales at the Mel Tillis Theater since 1989. They each had their Branson favorites. Surprisingly, I met a family of six from Louisiana who were not here for the shows. With their teenagers, the family came for the other attractions like "Silver Dollar City," the "Water Slides," the local "Duck" ride and more.
The ride was a great time to relax, view the scenery and chat. Within walking distance to the train is a nice spot to shop: "Dick's 5 & 10 cent Store" on Main Street. Established in 1929, it is a browser's delight with aisles cramped with everyday items as well as mandatory souvenirs. This store is nestled among many cute shops along the older quiet section of the "Branson Strip."
Feeling a few hunger pangs, we headed to lunch in "Silver Dollar City," an amusement park built into the forest. We had the buffet at Molly's Mill Restaurant, where they stuffed us with homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and candied carrots.
"Silver Dollar City" is large theme park with a western theme. There are over 100 craft people taking you back to the skills of the 1800s in America. The park was crowded as July is prime season, but the lines moved. The heat was tolerable with a few well-placed sprinklers, leaving the walkers cool and refreshed. We rode a few rides, did some shopping and caught a show called, "The Cajun Connection." This 5-piece Cajun Band featured 2 dancers and entertained us with song and dance. I wish we had more time to explore because the short visit gave us a small taste of the atmosphere and a thirst to stay longer. As I write this article, Donald has found a radio station on the Internet that plays only Cajun music.
Since "The Cajun Connection" was our first show of the day, we needed to catch the 4:30pm Showboat "Branson Belle." The boat was commissioned in 1995, and the captain is Oscar Fittpaldi. After touring his steamboat, we sat down to a delicious dinner, and once again we were impressed with so many people being served at once. During dinner, the "Stepping Out Orchestra" hosted by Gregg Bush entertained us.
After a flaming baked Alaska was served for dessert, we went for an evening stroll on deck to prepare for the show finale. The show simulated an old-time showboat experience, complete with singers, dancers, a comedian, a ventriloquist and even a talking dog! I certainly felt like it was a lot for the money, and I even felt so relaxed I almost forgot we had tickets to the 8 o'clock Jim Stafford Show.
We rushed out of the parking lot with our host from the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, Heather, only to find ourselves stuck in Branson's infamous traffic. It seems as though Branson was built up faster than its roads can handle. Each of this evening's performers made some joke about the traffic and the very steep hills in the parking lots. Thanks to Heather knowing the side roads, we made it to the theater on time. (Hint: Learn the side roads!)
Jim Stafford was just as I remembered him from the "Smothers Brothers Show." With his offbeat sense of humor, his show is a mixture of country songs, special effects and stories. This, too, is quite a family show both in the audience and on stage. Jim's young son and younger daughter joined him on the stage for a few numbers, playing a variety of instruments. Obviously Jim doesn't need to do TV variety shows anymore, since he has such a huge following in Branson and the surrounding states, but maybe TV needs him to attract the family audience he does.
After re-checking the map, I realized Missouri is almost the center of our country and is touched in some area by 8 different states. So there is a huge pool of people from Middle America to draw upon. Jim Stafford, like all the other shows we saw, salutes veterans by asking them to stand. Patriotism abounds in Missouri, and they are proud of it.
Jim also appeased his audience by singing one of his hit songs, "Spiders and Snakes," as the crowd sang along with every word.
Well we did it! Six shows in two days! And that's in addition to a train ride, shopping and dining out.
I noticed a billboard referring to Branson as the home of Country, God and family, and I couldn't agree more.
The next day we headed towards Springfield, stopping at a few antique stores and specialty shops along the way. I loved a place in town called "The Market," which is 25 boutiques in one store. If you get a chance to stop there, don't miss the back room on the second floor where there was a clearance sale going on.
As we headed to the airport, I thought back on this latest travel adventure. Springfield has a little bit of everything: history, attractions, restaurants, shopping and even a short hop over to the busy theater district of Branson.
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