Water Cooler: Dolly disposes with Dixie

BRANSON MO NEWS:

Dolly is taking the Dixie out of her Stampede, y’all.Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, a kitschy, Civil-War themed dinner show with locations in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri, will now be known as Dolly Parton’s Stampede. In a news release announcing the name change, everyone’s favorite country songstress (I’m not a country fan, but who doesn’t like Dolly?) said the reason behind the name change was to “remove any confusion or concerns about our shows,” and to “help our efforts to expand into new cities.”Clearly, plenty of people love this kind of stuff, and because they do, the company that owns Dolly Parton’s Stampede understandably wants to branch out; “Dixie” might not play so well in other areas of the country.As you can imagine, some people aren’t so happy with Dolly for, in their minds, bowing to political correctness or attempting to rewrite the past. But come on. This may come as a shock, but this show does not adhere closely to documented history.The Dixie Stampede shows had been criticized for glossing over the existence of slavery and romanticizing the old South. Those who attend these dinner shows actually get to choose a side. And sometimes the South wins. Yikes. Unless I’ve woken up in an alternate timeline, that’s not exactly how things went down.Sure, Dolly might lose a few visitors who prefer a little Dixie in their Stampede, but I think she’ll be OK. — Beth Hutson