BRANSON MO NEWS: CLOSE
Over the past 20 years, the folks at Silver Dollar City have become masters at the art of reinvention, particularly at Christmas.
Silver Dollar CityThe five-story special effects Christmas tree on the Square has more than 850 ornaments and 350,000 energy-saving lights.(Photo: Silver Dollar City)Holiday visitors to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, don’t even have to wait to get in to the theme park before finding plenty of chances to take selfies against a beautifully glittering Christmas backdrop. The park is literally illuminated for Christmas from end to end by 6.5 million lights strung throughout the 110 acres of the Ozarks mountainside. Included in that number is the single biggest lighting expansion in the park’s history, called Christmas in Midtown. All the lights plus musical productions, roller coasters, holiday foods and parades make Silver Dollar City a festive family getaway. An Old Time Christmas — now through Dec. 30 — is part of the larger Christmas mosaic that covers the whole town of Branson. The community is long known for working together when it comes to growing tourism in the region, an area that hosts some 6 million visitors annually. The theatres, decked out for the holidays, boast Christmas shows, many with large-scale production capabilities. Additionally, business owners and town leaders are working to become “America’s Christmas Tree City” by participating in a decorating quest that includes some 150 trees located throughout the “Entertainment District” (formerly known as the Highway 76 Strip). Back in the mid-1980s, many doubted Branson could stretch the proverbial Memorial Day to Labor Day tourism season. But, not to be deterred, Branson citizens, largely lead by the co-founder of Silver Dollar City, Peter Herschend, persevered to create Ozark Mountain Christmas in 1988. Show ThumbnailsShow CaptionsLast SlideNext Slide“That first celebration of Ozark Mountain Christmas was a pale reflection of what we all …
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