Branson News Guide

As the town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas celebrates “It’s A Dickens of A Christmas”, The Great Passion Play encourages visitors to go “Beyond Dickens”. This unique Christmas experience takes visitors from a Victorian street scene (right out of Charles Dickens’ novel) and into first century Bethlehem. Here the sights & sounds of the very first Christmas surrounds visitors, as they join the travelers from throughout Judea, the citizens & animals, the Roman soldiers, tax collectors, Shepherds, and Mary & Joseph to create a live interactive nativity scene.

In its fourth season, “Beyond Dickens” continues to bring new customers to the Eureka Springs, Arkansas Christmas Celebration. The event also includes fabulous window displays, appearances by the famous artist Jack Dawson, special tram tours to the Christ of the Ozarks Memorial Statue and the Amphitheater and beautiful lighting of the entire Great Passion Play grounds, as well as a presentation of “Christmas On Ice…A Stroll Down Memory Lane”.

Upon arrival at The Great Passion Play, visitors are welcomed with apple cider and Christmas treats. Beautifully attired Victorian characters, such as Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim, and a town crier invite visitors to “Go beyond Dickens into the very first Christmas.” Passing through the gate, visitors enter Bethlehem on the night Christ was born. Stern Roman soldiers, who occupy Bethlehem, instruct all to register for the census and pay their taxes. The townspeople engage visitors in conversation and talk about life in their little village. Travelers meet shepherds with a fantastical tale about seeing angels, as well as shopkeepers, harried housewives drawing water at the town well, and artisans who are excited about the opportunity to sell their wares to all of the people in town for the census. Visitors travel a little way out of “town” past the inn, to a stable where Mary and Joseph tell their story and share their joy at the birth of the baby Jesus.

The window displays, created by local businesses and Great Passion staff, include delightful recreations of the Crescent Hotel as a gingerbread house, Treasures from the Pacific Christmas celebration, a Department 56 village, Christmas memories, and more. Visitors also enjoy the Sacred Arts Center where Jack Dawson and his painting “The Passion Tree” are featured. “The “Passion Tree” illustrates the Bible from Genesis to Revelation with each ornament showing an event in history. Bibles with pages turned to the Christmas story, as well as a special collection of bells, are exhibited in the Bible Museum and visitors also take a trip through the Museum of Earth History. This Museum focuses on the earth’s early history. Featuring over 14 life-sized skeleton skulls, and fossil plates, the museum provides an attraction for people from all walks of life, from scientists to school children.

Christmas nativities from around the world are displayed inside the Christmas Hall where a special presentation “Christmas On Ice…A Stroll Down Memory Lane” completes the evening. This community project produced by a volunteer cast is led by Darry and Pam Lisemby.

7-Story Swing Has Roller-Coaster Speed and Barn-Bursting, High-Flying, Super Soaring Thrills!

New for 2007, Silver Dollar City takes the hands-on, old-fashioned fun of a barn swing and gives it giant-sized, high-tech thrill power - presenting the Giant Swing! This $6 million ride will launch riders more than seven stories in the air — and nearly upside down — at roller-coaster speeds for barn-bursting, high-flying, super-soaring, big-air thrills. The Giant Swing will open in Spring, 2007.

Set within a massive hay barn in the new Great Barn area of the park, the Giant Swing’s two colossal arms hold back-to-back seat rows, so riders soar backward as well as forward. Compressed air power launches the swings, sending riders 75 feet high in opposite directions and through the barn roof before powering them back toward the ground and past each other at speeds up to 45 miles per hour. The swings then soar 75 feet skyward, high above the trees on the other side, arcing a full 230 degrees so riders are nearly upside down. The tremendous acceleration produces back-to-back G-force kicks and sensations of weightlessness for a full throttle, high-flying thrill ride.

Alongside the Giant Swing are two silo-themed, interactive climbing towers where riders use rope-pulls to propel themselves over 30 feet in the air. Using a unique pulley system, pairs of riders can race each other to the top of the tower as it rotates for towering views of the City, before they free-fall gently back down. Kids and parents can ride the silo tower rides together for family-team races to the top.

The Giant Swing seats 16 riders on each swing arm, with a ride capacity of 640 per hour. The height requirement is 48 inches, roughly the height of a six or seven-year-old. The silo tower rides have a capacity of 300 per hour. The Giant Swing is created by S&S Power of Logan, Utah, and the silo towers are by Heege, with construction and theming of the rides by Silver Dollar City. They will be located behind the Lost River waterway in a previously undeveloped area.

Starting Saturday, November 4, the citizens of Taney County will have a permanent facility to dispose of household chemical waste. The satellite site to collect the material will be located at the Branson Recycle Center on Compton Drive. For the past five years, county residents have had only one day out of the year for a collection, usually held on the first Saturday in November. The event was coordinated by the city of Branson and Taney County with costs shared by the two entities plus Forsyth, Hollister and the Taney County Emergency Planning Committee.

Through a grant from the District N Solid Waste Board, a cargo container will serve as a satellite site allowing year-round collection of materials. Joplin is the only other city in Missouri with a similar satellite set-up. Kimberling City and Monett are expected to have facilities set up through the same grant within a year.

“This is a prime example of how a group of people working together can combine efforts to make a good thing happen in the community,” said Debbie Redford, environmental specialist for the city of Branson. The city of Branson provided the materials to expand the recycle center area and personnel from the Taney County Road and Bridge Department and the county concrete crew provided most of the labor. The cost of properly disposing of the chemicals will come from a grant initially and then will be borne by the county and municipalities.

Redford said, “Now when people are cleaning out their garages, sheds and basements or are moving, they will have a safe place to responsibly dispose of household chemicals. Before I always had to tell people, ‘Wait until the first Saturday in November.’”

The average homeowner has about 115 pounds of household chemicals at their residence. The following is a list of items that can be classified as household chemical waste and will be accepted at the collection site: household products such as cleaners, furniture polish, drain opener, disinfectant and floor wash; automotive products such as antifreeze, brake fluid, batteries, degreaser, diesel fuel, kerosene, transmission fluid, old fuels; lawn and garden products such as pesticides and fertilizers; home improvement products such as oil-based paint, paint thinner, paint stripper, stain, varnish, wood preservative; miscellaneous products such as photography chemicals, swimming pool chemicals, smoke detectors, thermometers, Ni-cad batteries, boat and car batteries. This list is not all inclusive of the items that can be found in and around the home that could be classified as household hazardous waste. Latex paint will not be accepted because it can safely be disposed of in a landfill by allowing it to dry out and solidify or speeding up the process with cat litter, sand or sawdust.

There will be no charge for this service but only residential material can be accepted. State law prevents the facility from accepting commercially generated waste.

The grand opening for the facility will be Saturday, November 4, from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. No appointments will be necessary that day. Anyone bringing material to the facility will be asked to fill out a simple form so personnel can track where materials are coming from. After Saturday’s opening, Taney County residents are asked to call 337-8566 to set an appointment to bring their material during regular center operating hours from 8:00-Noon, Monday through Friday. Two city employees have received the required training to accept the materials and one of them must be present at the site to receive any chemical waste when it is delivered. If one of the employees is not present, the citizen will be asked to take it back home and call for an appointment.

Director of public works Larry VanGilder explained how the city and county have joined together to make the facility a reality. “We have been working on this concept for over a year. In order to ensure that people do the right thing when it’s time to get rid of these chemicals, it’s important that we offer them a safe alternative. Proper disposal of household chemicals is a critical step in protecting the area’s water quality.”