Branson Ozark Mountain Country

Hi again,
It is spring time here in Branson Missouri or Pre Season to the shows in town. Every year about this time we start seeing news of shows moving from one theater to another or new shows coming to town or even new theaters opening up. It is always a time of anticipation and wonder as to what kind of a season it will be. Will the fuel prices at a all time high deter folks from taking that long time planned trip to Branson the Live Entertainment Capital of the World? Will the new Branson Airport see more new flights and larger numbers of arriving passengers? This year there are several new flights announced from Trans Air and Frontier Airlines from new destinations and it remains to be seen if they will generate enough traffic to make them economical enough for the Airlines to continue to fly them.

There is a new Dinner/Theater opening up this spring called the “Icon” it is located just west of the Titanic in a building that was started to be a upscale restaurant some years ago and it was never opened. There has been a lot of remodeling going on there and it looks like it should be open soon.

All the new shows are practicing and the new sets are being created and the theaters are getting all spruced up for the season openers. Lets see who has moved this season. Doug Gabriel is now at the Music City Centre Theater. Buck Trent is his 2nd season at the new Clay Cooper Theater. Roy Rogers Jr. (Dusty) and Son (Rusty) are doing their show from the Mickey Gilley Theater since their Museum closed last year. Todd Oliver has moved his humor/animal show from the Showboat Branson Bell to the Jim Stafford Theater.

Speaking about the Showboat Branson Bell you may have heard about the accident they had on the last cruise last year. It was an evening dinner cruise with about 600 guests when the Capiton lost control of the boat in heavy winds and it went aground on some rocks and the guests had to stay on board all night as the Coast Guard didn’t want to take a chance on moving the passengers to other boats, to take them to shore, for fear there might be an accident moving them in the dark and high winds and waves. The folks had a great time entertaining themselves and being entertained while they ate everything on board. No one was hurt and the Bell got more bad publicity than it did damage. The hull was damaged some and repairs are about done and it should be going out on a training or test run soon and be ready for it’s spring schedule. Speaking of the Showboat Branson Bell there is a complete change in venue aboard this year. As I mentioned above Todd Oliver has moved his show to the Jim Stafford Theater and in it’s place is a completely new show with Funny Fiddle featuring the comedy and music of Chris Pendleton and the high flying fiddler Janice Martin and a new vocal group called the ShowMen. There is even a new menu of Beef Tenderloin and Mediterranean Chicken Kabobs and Chicken Focaccia topped off with a golden brittle lemon-berry torte

The Track Family Fun Parks have added new improvements to their multi go cart tracks in town and they should be ready for all the kids coming to vacation here this summer.

Silver Dollar City SDC always has something new and exciting, to open each spring, at the famous Theme Park. This year is no exception as there are many new things and improvements to older attractions to make this season very exciting to it’s millions of seasons visitors.

All the the Mid West United States is within about a days drive from Branson so save gas money and come here on your summer vacation and everyone here will be waiting to see you have a great time. Bye the way lodging here is so inexpensive that when you check it out compared to Las Vegas or Atlantic City or San Francisco you will save enough to fly into our new airport and save the driving for others. Ya Al Com Down An See Us Now!

It is great to see that Branson Missouri is rising above the ashes of the last couple seasons. The fuel prices seams to have stabilized somewhat even though it is higher than we would all wish or deserve. Folks are just trying to get on with life and to take it to the fullest. The theaters are reporting increased ticket sales and there are several new shows in town.

The Baldknobbers and Silver Dollar City are celebrating 50 years of entertaining all here in Branson. The Presleys have also been performing here for 50 years also.

The new Branson Airport is starting new flights to new destinations and that is always exciting. You can now fly directly into Branson from many cities in the US.

The building trade is still quite slow even though there are several large sub divisions building or trying to get started again after their financing had fallen apart.

All the spring flowering trees are about done blooming and the oak trees are fully leafed lout so the forest around the Ozark Mountain Country looks like a fairy tale of thick dense foleage.

If you are wondering what to do this summer for excitement come on down to Branson and you will enjoy getting a huge bang for the buck. We are the “Live Entertainment Capitol of the World” just like the headline of my website says at http://www.branson-ozark-mountain-country.com.

Ya al kum se us now!
Don Raether

Well winter has come and gone and most of the shows are up and running. Clay Cooper has his new show at his new digs and I hear that the show is top notch entertainment.

The new flights are starting up in early April and they should bring in lots of new folks and I am sure they are happy to be landing right here at the new Branson Airport and not have to drive 50 miles to get here.

I see the Branson Bell Showboat has started it’s summer schedule of dinner shows and that is always a fine meal and lots of live entertainment.

Mrs. American Andrea Robertson was in town to officiate at the crowning of the new Mrs. Missouri. Mrs. Robertson was a past Mrs Missouri and on to win the Mrs. America contest in 2009.

It seems like we are having centennial fever here in the Ozark Mountain Country. The city of Hollister is celebrating their Centennial and Silver Dollar City just opened for the 2010 season and they are celebrating their 50th anniversary. We hope to be going out to SDC next week when the International Festival starts and we are going to be guides for our good neighbors who have never been to SDC. The Baldknobbers show is also celebrating 50 years of being in show business. The Mabe family started in 1959.

Did you see Joel Manby when he was on the Undercover Boss show last week. That was really hilarious when one of the guys at SDC told him that he wanted to finish college and work his way up to be the CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment and he was really talking to the real CEO of SDC. Joel was also undercover at Ride the Ducks and the Showboat Branson Bell. When he disclosed who he was at the company headquarters, when all the people he featured on the show were called into the Corporate Headquarters, the guy that said he wanted the CEO’s job was just flabbergasted when he saw who he had been talking to. The Herschend Family gave him a free scholarship to finish college plus they were going to pay him 40 hours a week salary with the understanding he would work when he wasn’t in school. Another fellow from SDC that had his house flooded a while back impressed Joel Manby enough that they were going to renew his house for him his wife and his 5 kids.

The Herschend Family Entertainment Company is one of the top employers here in Branson and they operate Silver Dollar City, Ride the Ducks, Showboat Branson Bell, White Water water park and manage the Dixie Stampede for Dolly Parton who does the same for them in Pigeon Forge TN.

There are two new shows in Branson one is called the Cats Pajamas and the other is a Martial Arts type of show with many Chinese dancers and performers. Tune in for the next issue of the Branson Bulletin Newsletter to read all about them.

Would you believe I saw a Motel in Branson the other day advertising a weekly rate of $78. When I showed it to some Minnesota Visitors we had staying with us and he said that must be a daily rate if you stay for a week. Oh No I told him that is $78 for the whole week. The gas prices seems to have leveled off and all the beautiful spring floral trees are in full bloom and with all the shows up and running you should make plans to take a vacation to Branson.

Till next month,
Don Raether

Hi All,

We just had a plesant weekend here in Branson Ozark Mountain Country. We old and very dear friends visit us from Northern Minnesota. We celebrated by having a lot of Norsk food of course and much converstion. Like have you seen or heard anything from this person or that person. You know how those conversations go when you run into old friends you haven’t seen for some time. My wife and I took them to 3 Branson Shows we thought they would enjoy while they were here. The majority of the shows aren’t open yet for the 2010 season so we went to 2 shows at the Grand Country theater. On Sunday we went to the 2:00PM Gospel Jubilee show by the Bacon Family. Being our friend Gus is a Minister and was our minister at our little country church in Northern Minnesota for about 10 years before going to a Mission assignment in Africa where they lived for about 10 years where they were teaching the African people about Religion and Farming. Out friends farmed for many years before and after their term in the Ministry. They are just now trying to retire but that is really hard for us and them after doing all that manual labor all our lives on our ranch and they at their multi thousand acre farm.

They really enjoyed the Bacon Family at the Gospel Jubilee and on Monday we went back to the same theater and saw the Grand Jubilee and they thought that the Sunday show was really filled with energy  but found the Grand Jubilee just about twice as enjoyable and filled with energy. We went to the Grand Country Theater for 2 reasons one we have annual passed to that entire list of shows in that theater and we were able to get reduced rate tickets for out visiters. So if you come here more that once you may want to look into buying season passes and the other reason is that theater is open and has several shows year around where most of the other theaters close for a month or two during the winter.

Today we went to a 10:00AM show at the Mickey Gilley Theater. It is a brand new show at that theater but it surely is not a new show to Branson. It was the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans remembered show featuring Roy and Dales son Dusty and their grandson Rusty. They are trying to recover from the Roy and Dale non profit closing their original theater and museum and all their memorabilia is soon going to be auctioned off. This was not done by the family but by the non profit organization Roy and Dale had set up when they were alive to take care of all their positions and assets. This was a really heart wrenching time for Rusty and Dusty seeing the thousands of things that were near and dear to them and the family being scattered to the wind.

When we had been to see them a few months ago we got to tour the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum and we took lots of pictures as that is no longer possible.

The Reason I said Roy Rogers Rides again in the heading or title is that they didn’t not decide to roll over and die but to look for another venue to continue to product their show and they were happy with dealing with Mickey Gilley and they said they were well received and accepted and treated by Mickey and his staff. So if you have a fond memory of the Silver Screen Cowboys like Roy and Dale you can still hear their music and hear their momories by the family members son and grandson.

If you a cowboy like me you may already remember or you can Google the family and find out more about them. Their family had many good times and years but did live through much tragedy just like the remaining family has this winter. You can read up about the tragedy where Roy and Dale lost three of their children in less that 2 years including the only child they shared together.

Stay Tuned for more from The Branson Scene…
Don Raether

The first week in March still has cold mornings to remind us that we arn’t done with winter. My wife Marilyn showed me where some of her flowers are starting to sprout and green stems are coming up. She pruned off all the old stems and we are ready for spring.

Several seasonal shows have opened already and more by mid March. There are always the old standby shows at Grand Country like the Grand Jubilee. My February Newsletter has more about this at this link. 

The smell of wood smoke coming from Folks chimneys and even from those burning leaves sure brings back the memories of better days gone by. We are seeing lots of Robins moving north for the summer. Our Gold Finches that have spent the winter here enjoying our feeder are just starting to turn golden again. Did you know they turn brown and almost look like small Sparrows during the winter. My wife says she hears the Chickadees starting to mix in their summer song with the winter song. Didn’t you know they have different songs for different seasons? Our Birds report here.

Some of the trees are starting to show small buds but it will be some time before we start seeing the spring flowering trees this area is so famous for. They start with the Bradford Pear then Red Bud then Dog Wood and Magnolia.

We are ready for spring and it will only be a short wait and hope you are waiting also…

Well, it might be a little the same in a lot of towns. You can roll a bowlling ball down the strip and it probably not even get run over. Branson has no bars as such only resorts so there aren’t  as many folks out running around checking out all the parties. Here a lot of folks get together with friends.

Tomarrow everything will get back to normal and after the next Branson Show season  we will start thinking about next years Super Bowl Game.

Don Raether

http://www.branson-ozark-mountain-country.com

What I mean by the headline is that Branson being the “Live Show Entertainment Capitol of the World” does not change but things within it’s core never stay the same.

A good example of that is Clay Cooper. He has been in Branson for some time and has been doing his shows from a small theater down in a hole off of Highway 76 (the strip) where you have to really look for it across from WalMart.

He is now remodeling the entire Theater including the parking lot of the Osmond Theater. His shows will start there in the spring and he will have a very nice looking theater and parking lot with great visability just East of Gretna Stop Light. The Magnificent Seven show was in that theater so keep tuned in to see where they will be in the spring. 

Buck Trent (banjo man from Hee Haw fame) will also be appearing there and his slot at the Grand Country Theater will be replaced by a new Splinter Middleton show. Splinter has been a member of the Grand Country crew for over 20 years and now will have his own show called Splinter Country.