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Hey, we had a wonderful weekend for YCW 2013 at SDC.  The weather was beautiful, the crowds were large, and the entertainment was great.  I spent my time in Echo Hollow...long days, but the Lord blessed us mightily.  Here are a few representative pics.

Friday night's talent was the Rhett Walker Band.  They were terrific.





For events such as this we often contract a production company to provide shade/rain cover and extra lighting for the concerts.  SDC#1fan was on that crew this time and was our light jockey.  Great job, Kevin.  Thank you for all your help.



Saturday's rally featured David Crowder Band, and Shay Robbins from Kanakuk Kamp.





Sunday's service featured Leeland, and of course, Joe White.





We were also privileged to be able to hear our entertainment manager, Mike Hefley's, daughter sing.  She did very well.



Mike




Thank you, Lord Jesus, for a wonderful weekend.

I hope you all come to see the Stunt Show in Echo Hollow this fall.  It's a lot of fun.  Features professional stunt people as well as some of our own street troupe and the Sons of the Silver Dollar.  Check out this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERKGAQJpYY8

Doesn't look like KC will have an exciting season.  St. Louis might fare better.  Mizzou in the SEC...how do you think they'll do?  I predict 6-6.

HFEC's expansion into the real estate market was alluded to a couple of years ago in orientation, but this is the first evidence I've seen of it.

As most of you know, Nik Wallenda and his family are performing at SDC's Opera House this summer during Kid's Fest.  This Friday, he will walk on a high-wire across the horseshoe bend portion of Niagara Falls. The stunt will be televised live on ABC at 8 pm, Friday, the 15th, with a countdown show at 7 pm.  Be sure to watch.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/daredevil-nik-wallendas-unprecedented-niagara-falls-tightrope-walk-to-air-live-on-abc-friday-june-15/

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/nik-wallendas-walk-niagara-numbers/story?id=16528783#.T9llo5iuWSo

And here is a short video in which Nik talks about his dream for this stunt.

http://igg.me/p/114001

Many of you recall the Duck boat accident in Philadelphia which propelled HFEC into the national spotlight.  New compelling video has just been released which shows exactly what occurred:  http://video.foxnews.com/v/1617290903001/fatal-boat-accident-video-released/?playlist_id=86856&intcmp=obnetwork

It's certain that HFEC will not escape unscathed from the current court proceedings, but hopefully, most of the blame will be placed on the company that operated the barge.

It's a sad day in Cardinal Nation today.  Albert has decided to sign with the LA Angels for $250 million and 10 years.  I just saw that that works out to about $68,500 a day for the ten years.  Glad he's going to the other league.  Anyway, an era is over...so long Albert.

Hasn't been much baseball talk on the board this season, but I just wanted to let you all know that the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Astros tonight to gain a tie with the Braves for the NL Wild Card race.  One game remaining in the regular season...a Cards win coupled with a Braves loss tomorrow night puts them in post-season play.  A Braves win with a Cards loss puts the Braves in.  Both win or both lose and they have a one game playoff in St. Louis on Thursday.  It don't get much more exciting than this.

Go Cardinals!!!

The purpose of this column is to identify particular dates in the history of SDC that were pivotal in it's development.  It is just for fun, therefore the veracity of some of the entries will be unable to be verified.  I'll get it started and you'll get the idea...please feel free to contribute.


August 2, ??BC
Ground breaking on what has come to be known as Marvel Cave began on this date in history when, while foraging for food, local entrepreneur, Oz Erk, tripped over the skeleton of a saber-toothed tiger.  As he stumbled forward, his foot landed on it's scapula, driving it into the ground.  Recognizing the value of this new "tool," he demonstrated it's usefulness to his peers by beginning to dig in the ground.  Before long he was able to retire as hundreds lined up, willing to trade food and other items for a chance to try their hand with the new tool, all the while expanding the size of the hole.  Originally just a by-product of Oz's entrepreneurial skills, the hole is now a popular tourist attraction in the region which was named for him.  Sadly, Oz's original scapula wore down to just a nub after several months of use and is now lost to us.


There you go.  Does anyone know of any other events that might or might not have happened on this date that relate to Silver Dollar City?

There is no show in Echo Hollow Monday night, the 30th.  Somebody put some wrong information on the SDC website.

I don't know how many of you out there are mother's, but to all of you, I wish a Happy Mother's Day!  May your day be filled with many blessings from God!

having been killed in a strike by US forces in Pakistan.  The streets of Silver Dollar City are safer after today.  Congrats and good work to all who had a part in the efforts to bring Bin Laden to justice.

The other day while watching a bit of the Grammies, Lady Antebellum came on and sang their release:  "Need You Now."  I turned to my wife and asked "Is this a new song?"  She said "Yes," but I knew I had heard it before.  Mystery solved...give a listen to this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS1z2inwJ2o

Here is a link to some pictures of Marvel Cave that appeared on the website of a local TV station.  No credit is given so I don't know if they were submitted by a staff photographer or a regular tourist, but they're pretty decent pictures.

http://www.kspr.com/news/ky3-pictures-marvel-cave-121710,0,1307225.photogallery

I just heard on the local news that at about 1:30am, lightening struck the top of the American Plunge and started a small fire which was quickly put out by Station 10.  The picture showed only minor damage to what I suspect is the small cubicle at the top of the lift just before the plunge.  I would assume that that means AP will be closed for a time...oh wait...it's not open during OTC anyway is it.  Here's a link I found after hearing that...no picture though:  http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=361466

Here's hoping everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving. A day to let go of the frustrations of everyday life and count the blessings that the Lord provides on a daily basis. Thank you, Lord, for your constant love and provision!

I think the members of this site represent a pretty general cross-section of SDC guests, so I would like to get your opinion on the following scenario.

It's a very hot day at the City...into the 100's, and at the end of your day, you go to the Echo Hollow show in the evening.  Even though the sun is down below the hillside, the temperature down in that bowl is still in the mid to upper 90's, no breeze to speak of.  Normally, the show is just shy of being 2 hours long with a 15 minute intermission, but due to the heat, the stage manager decides to shorten the show to just over an hour with no intermission by cutting some of the numbers. 

What is your reaction?  Would you be:

A)  Upset at not getting to see the whole 2 hour show regardless of the heat?

B)  Happy that you didn't have to sit through a 2 hour show in the heat?

C)  Indifferent since you didn't have to pay extra for the show anyway?

D)  Other?

This situation occurred this past Tuesday and Wednesday, and people didn't seem to be upset at a shorter show, applauding heartily at the end, plus, they had more time to take advantage of MM...but then, I wasn't in a position to gauge their reactions as they left the venue.  Just wondering what you all think about it...not that it's gonna make any difference since they're gonna do what they want to do anyway.

"What's a tidbit?"  "I don't know, but I know of a calf that got the tar kicked out of it for doing it."  Old Toby Show line, just for you, Junior.

Tonight in the Echo Show, Jae had a young girl (sophomore in HS) up on stage for the "Talk Like A Hillbilly" bit.  Two contestants are supposed to use a given word in a sentence like a hillbilly would use it.  The word was "starch," and he's looking for something like "Gentlemen, starch-ur engines."  So... Jae was pronouncing it "star-r-r-r-r-r-ch," like the sound of an engine starting.  Jae did this several times, and then the girl innocently looked up at him and said "Can you give me a hint?"  The audience roared, I roared, Jae started laughing, dropped the mic, had to wipe the tears from his eyes, even the other contestant was dying.  The poor girl never had a clue.  Maybe you had to be there, but it was darn funny.

I'm sure you guys, especially you teachers, have some funny tidbits to relate.  There's probably a similar thread around here somewhere, but what the heck.  Whatcha got?

Well, it's here, my friends.  Silver Dollar City is officially 50 years old.  I thought I'd start a thread for us to share our experiences of this weekend.  Here's how Friday went for me...

I got there early, call time for Echo being at 8:30.  We started setting up for the Ozark Mountain Daredevil concert.  First, the riggers got started on the light rig and awning.  The City rented lighting for the concert and only used the in-house lighting to supplement.  Light trusses were bolted together and secured to genie lifts, then the top was stretched out across it.  When that got off the ground, the sound guys started bringing in their gear and setting it up.  Big stacks of speakers and subs.  And lots of cable.  The Daredevils arrived around 11 or 11:30 (didn't really keep track of time cause we were so busy) and their gear was brought in.  They then kinda relaxed while the sound guys tied their gear into the system.  Pizza was brought in for the crew and they grabbed bites to eat as time allowed.  By around this time the lighting guys were all cabled up and the rig/top was raised to trim height.  By about 12:30, the sound guys were ready for the Daredevils to come out and begin sound check.  While they were sound checking, the lighting crew was focusing light.  All went without a major hitch and by around 1:45 all systems were go, and ready for the house to be opened at 2:00.  We all got to relax then, until showtime.  Thankfully, the rain held off all through setup.

I would guess that Echo Hollow was about 75-80% full for the 3:00 show.  The show was wonderful, and went off without any technical hitches.  They performed most of their biggies, including "Jackie Blue" and "If You Want To Get To Heaven."  But as the concert went on, the skies were getting darker and darker.  Everyone was keeping track of the radar on their I-phones and such.  But the rain held off all through the show.  Then, as they came back out for an encore, our supervisor met them and told them they couldn't do one because rain was imminent.  So they made an announcement to that effect, and as they walked off stage, the skies opened up.  It was a deluge, complete with marble sized hail.  The crew rushed on stage to begin covering sensitive equipment, and we lowered the top to just above head height and put a slope on it so water would run off of it.  We had to watch it carefully though because water still collected on it in low areas, which we had to lift up from time to time to allow drainage.  The rain continued, sometimes hard, sometimes lighter, for almost an hour and a half before letting up.  It was during this time that the Daredevils went to dinner, and after the rain stopped, the crew was allowed to get some too.

The house opened at 6:00 for the 7:00 show.  One little shower came while people were filing in, but was short and light.  Lot's of VIP's came for this show, including Jack and Sherry, Pete and Jody, and their families, Joel Manby and his family, and others.  The theater was probably 80-85% full for this show.  The Daredevils did the same show, and it ended the same way as the first one.  But this time, they actually got into their encore before the rain came.  They finished up...everyone went home a little soggy, but happy.  I got to talk to Jack a bit after the show, and he said that, not being a Ozark Mountain Daredevils fan, he hadn't really expected to enjoy the show as much as he did.  But he said he really enjoyed it alot.  I had kept an eye on their whole bunch during the concert and it did seem that they were really getting into it.

It took about an hour after the show to get the Daredevils loaded out and everything buttoned down for the night.  All in all, a great day down at Echo Hollow.  Call time in the morning...7:15.  I've got some pictures but it will be a couple of days before I can get around to posting them.  I'll be pretty busy all weekend.  I love show business.  LOL

I have no idea how things went up on park today (Friday), so someone else is going to fill us in on that.

Luke 24:5-8
"Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'"
8 And they remembered His words.

It's a  great day to go to church...a day to reflect on the Love of Jesus, His great sacrifice, and what His resurrection means for all of us.   

Have a great day everyone!