Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede

Although I wouldn’t argue that Pigeon Forge revolves around Dolly Parton, I would say that she is a ubiquitous presence. Not only does she have a major parkway is named after her, there is also a Dollywood Lane, named after, indeed, Dollywood the amusement park. Then there is Dollywood´s Splash ´n´ Country, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, and countless signs and stores bearing her name.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike Dolly Parton at all. Some of her songs are definitely up there, and she was hilarious in the movie “Nine to five”. True, her wigs freak me out a little bit, as does the fact that she probably has a waist that would make Scarlett O’Hara jealous. And when I found out she was born in 1946, I was confronted with the fact that I have, at least for the last twenty years, assumed she was forty. But other than that, she has always struck me as a nice, good-hearted person.

So when we got ready to go to the Dixie Stampede, I wasn’t quite sure which direction the evening was going to go; was it going to be fun and light-hearted, or were we going to be confronted with Dolly Parton in full-country mode, complete with banjo, 4-ft high wig, and a sequiny dress?

Fortunately, it turned out to be somewhere in the middle. For those of you who are not familiar with the Dixie Stampede, it’s a dinner show. You are seated around a riding arena in a bleacher-like seats with a narrow table in front of you, and are served a typical southern dinner while you’re entertained by songs, dance, pig races, and people on horseback, in covered wagons, and on ostriches. Your typical southern dinner includes a drink (preferably sweet tea of course), served in a mason jar, a bowl of soup with a biscuit, rotisserie chicken, pork loin barbecue, corn on the cob, and an apple turnover. The best part? You did not get any silverware. Just imagine the look on my face, when I realized I had to slurp soup out of the bowl, and pull a chicken apart with my hands. I guess I just never realized that being southern meant you didn’t have any table manners, but I’m willing to learn. And before I let out the critic in me, let me just say that I did have fun. The food was good, the show was amazing, and I really had a great evening.

But DixieChick wouldn't be DixieChick if she didn't have something to complain about. The theme of the night is north versus south. Each act is presented as a battle between the north and the south. The seating is divided up in half, with one half of the place rooting for the south, and the other for the north. Now it sounds like an innocuous theme, and although it is on the surface, there were some things that made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Like when they described the founding of America, and explained that the civil war was the result of “not seeing eye to eye about certain values”. Now perhaps working at an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) has made me extra sensitive to these issues, but to describe the discord regarding the morality and legality of slavery as “not seeing eye to eye” about “certain values” is a bit of an understatement. I also wasn’t exactly comfortable with the fact that the waiters on the other (the south) side, as well as the actors competing for that side, were dressed in confederate uniforms. Nobody really seemed to be concerned with what those uniforms stood for back in the mid-19^th century. Sure, the civil war ended, and slavery was abolished, but I think that the issues that are a direct result of slavery, such as racism are still too much of a presence in the south to be dealt with in such a light manner. When there are still people who think it’s alright to pick up the phone, dial my work number and call me the “n-word”, I think we need to consider everything related to the divide between the north and the south very seriously. To me this became even more true when I noticed that out of the probably thousand guests, maybe a handful were not white. I understand the need to create some sort of competition, and the distinction between the north and south is definitely a great way to do it, but can’t they do so without mentioning the civil war?

Fortunately, the show, and Dolly Parton redeemed herself a little, by ending the show with the comment that “We have to remember that above all, we are all Americans”. It’s very true. But I wonder if that’s really enough to heal the problems we still experience in the south in a daily basis.