(Branson, Missouri, 9/17/2020) As part of a 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee, Silver Dollar City presents one of the longest running and most-attended craft festivals in America, The Harvest Festival featuring Crafts, Cowboys and Pumpkins, September 23-October 31, 2020. The 1880s theme park has perfected this annual event over the past six decades, creating one of the most heralded crafts festivals in Mid-America and a true celebration of fall in the Ozark Mountains.
It is a festival that lets guests stroll and observe demonstrating crafters while toe- tapping western, bluegrass and country music sounds from outdoor stages and cowboy lore is brought to life by legendary figures; then evening and nighttime are set aglow as the energy heats up and a pumpkin-centric plaza gathering takes over.
All throughout, there are the City’s rides and coasters soaring into the Ozark skies and, as has become tradition, a wide selection of creative Silver Dollar City food specialties. This year the menu features all things pumpkin, including pumpkin cheesecake cones, cappuccinos, cinnamon rolls, funnel cakes, churros with pumpkin fluff and more.
Daytime Crafts to Evening Aglow
Demonstrating artists, designers and makers with high quality, handmade, original work line the City’s Square, and the streets explode with shades of orange as thousands of hand-carved pumpkins and pumpkin sculptures line pathways.
The Makers’ Market houses some of the most intricate creations, with the artisans chatting with guests as they work. “The demonstrating craftsmen are very important to the atmosphere of this long-running festival,” says Silver Dollar City Designer Kelly Eutsler. “Many art fairs highlight the finished products, but our festival is long-known for showing how the crafts are actually created.”
Just around the corner from the crafts, the return of cowboy culture adds an entirely different layer. “By popular demand, we bring back the cowboys who entertain with practices of yesteryear,” said Eutsler. “We have cowboy cooking on outdoor grills, the old Silver Dollar City Stagecoach and its storytellers of western lore, cowboy artworks, and the honor of presenting the famed watercolor artist, Buck Taylor, whom many will remember from his role on the TV series ‘Gunsmoke.’”
As the sun sets low and 5:30pm strikes the old water clock, thousands of hand-carved pumpkins start glowing and Pumpkin Plaza heats up, featuring pumpkin pals and glow-in- the-dark fun.
Pumpkins in the City returns for its second season, bringing renewed energy to the fall destination of Branson. The rides are open all day and all night, which brings another reason to visit, said Eutsler, “What once was considered a season more for adults now offers something big for families and kids, too.”
Even the new Mystic River Falls water ride will remain open, with long, winding rapids, an 8-story, rotating lift and a waterfall billed as the “Tallest Drop of a water ride in the Western Hemisphere.” To add to the feeling of celebration, the thousands of LED lights that line most of the new area of Rivertown, Clara Belle’s Cinnamon Bread bakery and the new Rivertown Smokehouse (featuring fresh-smoked meats and specialty desserts) are attractions all their own.
“A getaway to Silver Dollar City may be just what we each need now – to slip into another time and enjoy the sounds, tastes and smells of the harvest season,” said Eutsler. She concludes by adding this tip: “Don’t miss the super-star, nationally recognized pumpkin carvers, or the Chuck Wagon chefs known as the best in their business in all of America,” concluded Eutsler.
CRAFTS & COWBOYS BY DAY
- Makers’ Market returns with new artisans, vintage wares and trending creations
- Back by popular demand: Western watercolorist and ‘Gunsmoke’ legend, Buck Taylor
- Chuck Wagon cooking demos including Food Network star Kent Rollins
- Pumpkin carving by carver extraordinaire, Barry Brown
- New award-winning Rock On Ice pumpkin sculptors
- The Comeback of the Silver Dollar City Stagecoach, along with a posse of wranglers.
PUMPKINS BY NIGHT
- Thousands of illuminated pumpkins and larger-than-life carved sculptures
- Pumpkin Pal “meet & greets” and entertainment in the Pumpkin Plaza
Glow-in-the-dark goodies and treats
The Harvest Festival Featuring Crafts, Cowboys & Pumpkins runs from September 23- October 31, 2020. For more information: www.silverdollarcity.com
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