I was cruising the SDC official website last night, looked under the "shows" section under "street troupe" and saw that the RAINMAKER SHOW will be back this year as part of the entertainment on Main Street! So...has anyone visited park this year and seen the Rainmaker show, or will the show not begin until anniversary weekend?
I heard the rainmaker this past week. No not at SDC but on the sounds of SDC LP. It brought back great memories. I wish that album was on iTunes so I could listen to it other than from my record player.
Good catch! I am not old enough to have had a chance to experience the original version. It's good to know that Silver Dollar City is including so many throwback attractions this year! I hope the new version will have just as much charm, and excitement as the old version.
We need new reviews! ;D
The Rainmaker's wagon was outside the paint shop last Saturday, so I'm thinking he will be making an appearance in the near future!
My parents have great memories of the rainmaker shows although I have never seen it. Hopefully that will change this year! I was also perusing the SDC website and noticed they have added stories of how each shop came to Silver Dollar City. There were stories for the more popular shops (Brown's, Sullivan's, etc.) but now there are stories for nearly every one. Take a look - they are very imaginative! Some are a bit of a stretch but for the most part, they are pretty good.
I hope that the rain in the rainmaker show will come from a sprinkler in the trees like in the 70's and not from a guy with a hose on a roof behind you like in the 2000's.
"Now folks, we're all ready on the old rainmaker's wagon, but we do need one more ingredient for a good rainstorm and that just happens to be Electricity. Now after years of studying and calculating, and deciphering I finally figured out that each and every one of you has just a little bit of electricity in you........."
Hopefully it will be the same as OldSDCer said-1974 Rainmaker wagon
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/Picture046.jpg)
"Alright everybody touch elbows!"
The Rainmaker did his show on Main Street, at the foot of the old shot tower. I think the shot tower was replaced with some sort of fire tower with a fire deptartment pump wagon under it. But that was the location. (Between the church and the gazebo/stage) Shower heads hidden at the top of the shot tower released the "rain" at the end of the show. Another costumed character, usually the sheriff or one of the Hatfield/McCoy clan depressed a hidden button on the side of one of the legs of the shot tower to start the rain at the right moment. The fun of this show was not only the silly speech the rainmaker gave, but also the audience participation (precipitation) with people touching elbows to get electricity generated, and the kids that helped the rainmaker on the wagon with the thunder machine and cranks and so on. The rainmaker handed out little umbrellas to shield folks from the rain. I loved his claim that he was the seventh son of the seventh son...on both sides of the family...and that's a mighty rare thing! (Think about it mister...you'll get it in a minute.)
SHOT TOWER!!!!!!!!!!!
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/Picture044.jpg)
Thanks a lot rube now I have so many questions! :D
Was the shot tower built specifically for the rainmaker show?
When was it taken down? Was it taken down after they stopped performing the original rainmaker show?
Why was it taken down? Was it to make room for a new attraction?
The shot tower was there since the 60s. Originally, according to ozarks history, lead which was melted was dropped through holes or a screen above, and it formed pellets of lead which cooled as they dropped to the ground. Apparently the lead shot was ammo for rifles. I think the shot tower was removed sometime in the late 80s or in the 90s, probably because it was in bad shape or because every now and then they remove a structure and spruce up or change an area. Maybe the fire tower thing goes back to the gay 90s "gaslight square" theme in the early 90s that they tried, I'm not sure.
Great photo Rube! This makes sense now. The shot tower was built without the windmill on the top. Eventually the windmill was added, maybe because they no longer used the tower for shot. When the square became Gaslight Square the fire tower was built (1989). The fire engine was brought up from FITH; it used to sit out front of the building and may have been inside where the pumper is currently located. I was very young, but I remembered the water coming down from a windmill and now that I have seen this picture it makes that memory clear. I may be ranting, but I get excited when I can prove my memories right.
You are on target! Some dates are approximate, but that's close enough.
If anything my photos from the late 70's can serve for those purposes, to correct out memories when they get a little dusty! Glad I could help!
Quote from: Junior on April 21, 2010, 12:43:36 PM
The shot tower was there since the 60s. Originally, according to ozarks history, lead which was melted was dropped through holes or a screen above, and it formed pellets of lead which cooled as they dropped to the ground. Apparently the lead shot was ammo for rifles.
Shotguns. Round balls for muskets/rifles was poured into molds. Shot towers produced smaller pellets for shotguns, which don't require as much precision for shot diameter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_tower
Does anybody remember a bell tower with 2 or 3 bells and possibly torches on it? There's an old one sitting in one of our back-back lots and I can't figure it out...
I got a few shots of the 2010 rainmaker on the square. I didn't get a chance to see the show, but here's what's there!
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/washu050.jpg)
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/washu052.jpg)
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/washu053.jpg)
omgomgomg!
Thank you, Rube!!!
I hope the presentation is better than the wagon looks.
To me this looks very kid friendly, kinda like a geyser gulch version of the rainmaker. A bright technicolor wagon placed on the square just looks a little out of place at this time of year. During kids fest it will more than likely look like it belongs there.
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/washu055.jpg)
I am no expert, but having seen the original show, I think that some of us will have a different look at this show. I was thinking that the sprinkler head for this one is held in the "birdy" but after closer inspection I do not think so. I looked all over for the water source, and this is the only logical place that I have found, but it has no source leading to it, so it is out...BUT I didn't see the show. Once I do, I might be able to clear this up a little better.
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/washu054.jpg)
I don't know why they chose to use this new wagon, when the old, original wagon is still on the property. The shower head, by the way, was located on top of the old shot tower. Probably on the top of the fire tower today.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...
I recall the Rain Maker being a more mobile show, not attached to the shot tower, and somewhat downhill from Main Street.
I know that was the original setup, but I'm pretty sure there was an intermediate Rain Maker in other locations after the shot tower came down.
Am I wrong?
You are right. The Rainmaker wagon was pulled by a mule. The rainmaker drove the wagon to and from the mule barn behind the lost river. Between shows, he'd find a shady spot on the town square and visit with people. Kids liked petting the mule. Don't know why the new wagon in stationary. Is it possible that visitors don't see work animals like a mule on the streets anymore? I remember about 80 or 81 a mule at the one mule swing died during the middle of the day! (He was an old mule.) they could not bring in a front end loader to scoop him up and carry him out until the park closed. They had to just cover him up with a tarp. Let me tell ya, the passersby lodged many a complaint that day...but what can ya do about that? Probably they don't use mules on the streets to pull wagons anymore. During my time on park, they actually had a man whose job it was to deliver in a mule and wagon supplies to various shops and restaurants to "keep things in theme." My guess is they don't do that anymore, either.
a couple of years ago they were doing the rainmaker show on a stage by the candle shop. When the he called for rain to come they had a man on the roof of the buliding behind us shower us with a water hose. That just did not have the same feel that the original show had.
The reason we don't see mules (or many other animals) on park like that anymore is, to my understanding, more of a safety issue than anything else. Also, the cost of insurance is part of it, I think. Contract acts that employ animals must carry substantial insurance. The animals down behind the homestead are a different matter somehow, possibly because of being in a controlled environment. At Christmas time, they do have a horse-drawn carriage that people can ride around the square. I'm not sure, but guests may have to pay for the privilege.
I had the privilege of being the rainmaker for a couple of seasons, back in the day. That was some of the most fun I've had on park. When I did it, at the end of the day we parked the wagon off park in the area that the Frisco barn now sits on; remember, there was a gate just past the Flooded Mine exit, and the time clock used to be on the back side of it. We had to then walk the mule to and from the mule barn which was and is still located out in the woods past M&C and the Roundhouse. You went around the back side of Lake Silver and down the road that goes by the old train robbers shack. I remember Big John dying. His job was to power the carousel across the tracks from the Saloon. It was a sad day. That area was called the Deep Woods back then and covered with wood chips.
Thanks, Zephon, for answering the question about animals on park...now here is one more for you...back in the old days it was common for some costumed employees (including me) to wear a Confederate or Union cap as part of the costume. (I wore a Confederate cap at the Float Trip, Diving Bell and Mule Swing in 1979-1981.) Is that still OK, or is the park "politically correct" and not allow the Confederate stuff...I mean, they used to sell tons of Confederate flags in the general store, and parents bought 'em by the ton!
Thinking back to everytime I bought a cap, I was a union boy through and through! I never bought the stars and bars. I did want one of each once I started teaching history, but that seemed to be around the same time that the park stopped selling the kids caps. I do have a postcard or two that shows the general store in full confederate regalia. A large "Old Dixie" flying out front behind a street troupe gunfight scene.
I know that when I worked at The Wilds, in order to have horseback riding, the insurance was $2000 per horse. The owners decided to take a gamble and run it without insurance. Thankfully, nothing ever happened.
The miniature burros were more my concern. The things were mean and bit. I always cringe when I see one of those things in a petting farm.
Quote from: Zephon on June 01, 2010, 11:42:18 PM
The reason we don't see mules (or many other animals) on park like that anymore is, to my understanding, more of a safety issue than anything else. Also, the cost of insurance is part of it, I think. Contract acts that employ animals must carry substantial insurance. The animals down behind the homestead are a different matter somehow, possibly because of being in a controlled environment.
There's a big difference in the potential damage inflicted by an 80 pound goat, and that of an 800 pound mule.
A mean goat just gets taken off park with no major damage done. Even the friendliest mule can accidentally step on someone and break their foot.
^That's true, KB. And a pretty good reason not to have the bigger animals. But, personally, having been stepped on or kicked by horses several times, and having been bitten or clawed by small critters on occasion, I think I'd prefer the damage from the larger animals. Those puncture wounds from small critters are much more painful and last longer, at least that's my experience. What really hurts is to be stepped on by a cow...when they twist their foot, those cloven hooves dig in much worse somehow.
Junior, to my knowledge there is no official prohibition on Confederate caps. I don't see the Union caps either on costumed characters these days. Oh, wait, I have seen one employee that dresses in full Union uniform on occasion...I usually see him at the RR crossing behind the Flooded Mine. I think it's a matter of preference, and overall, the practice of wearing those, Confederate or Union, has just become a bit passe with employees.
How else is the young'ns gonna learn 'ceptin' they gits hurt once in a while?
My daughter learned really quickly not to walk in front of a swing. (I know, it all comes down to those lawsuits and insurance.)
Quote from: History Buff on June 03, 2010, 12:36:26 PM
How else is the young'ns gonna learn 'ceptin' they gits hurt once in a while?
My daughter learned really quickly not to walk in front of a swing. (I know, it all comes down to those lawsuits and insurance.)
We're protecting our children to death. Just a quick look at skateboard videos online will tell you that they seek danger to in order to know its limits, when they have been denied the teaching gift of "painful gravity" at an early age.
I gotta admit, during the seven years I worked at the park, I only heard of a burrow or a goat in the petting zoo nibbling at a kids fingers. Never saw a mule hurt anyone. I think it's a shame the litigation and insurance stuff would keep work animals off the park, but I understand. I remember the fall crafts festival when a mule was used to turn the machine that made sorghum. That was fascinating for the guests to watch.
The guy dresssed in the "Union Army" uniform is actually, I believe, dressed as a "Buffalo Soldier". They saw a lot of action during the American Indian wars. He's a really nice guy that also works at the Flooded Mine.
Back about 81 and 82, a unit of civil war reinactors set up a couple of tents across from the leatherworks cabin and solicited volunteers. They made a little money, too if I remember, selling buttons, buckles, caps, books, and other civil war related stuff. They also held marching drills and did formation on the city square, fired their weapons, gave demonstrations and the people loved it.
I love "Living History" demonstrations! I wish they'd do that again Junior.
There was a pretty good Civil War display at one of the festivals last year.