There won’t be a stampede for tickets.
Via Knox News:
Dolly Parton’s Pigeon Forge dinner attraction, Dixie Stampede, has a new name.
It’s now known as Dolly Parton’s Stampede, according to a news release from World Choice Investments. The attraction will start its 2018 season later in January with shows on Jan. 19, 20, 26 and 27, according to its website. It also has a location in Branson, Missouri.
Removing confusion, concern about shows
Parton explained in the press release that the change streamlines the name of the show, will remove any confusion or concern about it, and will help efforts to bring the show into new cities.
“Our shows currently are identified by where they are located,” Parton said in the news release. “Some examples are Smoky Mountain Adventures or Dixie Stampede. We also recognize that attitudes change and feel that by streamlining the names of our shows, it will remove any confusion or concerns about our shows and will help our efforts to expand into new cities.”[…]
Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett said he was disappointed that the show yielded to political correctness.
“Well, like everybody else, I love Dolly, and I love all that she’s done for our community, which is her community, and I’m disappointed that they’re yielding to political correctness,” Burchett said. “What’s next? Are we going to change the name of Dixie cups and the Dixie sugar company? You know, I just hope they don’t change their Christmas program.”[…]
Slate writer Aisha Harris criticized the Pigeon Forge dinner show in a review published in August 2017 and said the show romanticizes the old South.
Harris called the show “a lily-white kitsch extravaganza that play-acts the Civil War but never once mentions slavery. Instead, it romanticizes the old South, with generous portions of both corn on the cob and Southern belles festooned in Christmas lights,” according to her article.
News Sentinel columnist Greg Johnson wrote a column in response to Harris’ article in August 2017. He described the show as a “comedic take on the battle between the North and the South.”
“Harris looked for offense and found it everywhere,” Johnson said in his column. “At no point in her screed did she note the character of the character she was attacking, Dolly Parton. Not one word of Dolly’s efforts to advance literacy by starting Imagination Library, which gives books to kids. Nary a mention of Dolly’s generosity toward victims of the 2016 wildfires in Sevier County.”
HT: Smokey