By day and by night, Silver Dollar City’s acclaimed Harvest Festival returns in Fall of 2021 with even more pumpkins, new bigger-than-life pumpkin sculptures and more lighted pathways featuring 15,000 pumpkins with nearly 2,000 hand-carved designs. As part of Silver Dollar City’s 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee, the 2021 half-million-dollar “pumpkin” expansion adds to the Harvest Festival featuring Crafts, Cowboys and Pumpkins, running September 24-October 30, 2021. In the past six decades, the internationally-awarded 1880s theme park has created one of the most spectacular and heralded crafts festivals in America by presenting a celebration of Fall in the Ozark Mountains – yet one packed with family fun.
Pumpkins span “The City” with the additions including elements such as a 14-foot ‘Lucky’ Dog (the Dalmatian mascot of the kids’ area called Fireman’s Landing), colorful, friendly bats with 5-foot wingspans perched atop dramatic lighted areas, more festoons draping over pathways and vivid ground lighting all throughout the new area of Rivertown. This extends the existing lighted trail of thousands of pumpkins and themed sculptures such as a massive cat, pumpkin craftspeople (patterned after the City’s own craftspeople), an icon scarecrow more than 2-stories tall and brilliant animals that measure from 5 feet to more than 20 feet.
With the park aglow below, rollercoasters soar into the night skies, careening down the hills and hollows of the Ozark Mountains with record-breaking thrills, drops, loops and views. In all, there are 40 rides & attractions throughout the tree-lined park. With families seeking wholesome alternatives to Halloween, the nights cap off with live, zany blacklight, glow-in-the-dark dance parties where kids can dance alongside life-size pumpkin pals.
Food is top of mind for most guests, and as tradition, a wide selection of creative Silver Dollar City specialties changes with the season – now featuring all things pumpkin:
- Pumpkin Danish
- Pumpkin coconut chicken curry and rice
- Pumpkin sausage pizza
- Pumpkin mac and cheese
- Pumpkin sausage potato soup
- Autumn pork belly skillet
Fan favorites also return with pumpkin chili, pumpkin corn dogs with sweet potato fries, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, pumpkin spiced churros, pumpkin fluff, pork sandwiches with pumpkin barbecue sauce, pumpkin spiced ribs and pumpkin bread pudding. New is a “Harvest Tasting Passport” that lets guests try a variety of foods from throughout the eateries.
Daytime Crafts & Cowboys
In the daytime, demonstrating crafters share their talents while toe-tapping western, bluegrass and country music comes from outdoor stages. Even western lore is brought to life by legendary cowboys, chuckwagon chefs and storytellers of yesteryears’ wrangling adventures. A favorite cowboy is famed watercolor artist, Buck Taylor, known from his youth on the TV series ‘Gunsmoke’ and now seen in the trendy series, ‘Yellowstone.’ The original Silver Dollar City Stagecoach returns with a posse of wranglers, bringing to life the history of Silver Dollar City.
In the streets and courtyards, there are dozens more demonstrating crafters along with several world-recognized pumpkin carvers. The Makers’ Market houses some of the more intricate creations such as handcrafted jewelry, quilts, applique and woven rugs.
