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Dolly Parton plans Nashville theme park
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NASHVILLE (AP) — Dolly Parton plans a water-snow park in Nashville, described as the first of its kind in the country, to join her other tourist attractions in East Tennessee.
The new $50 million venture, announced Thursday on Parton’s 66th birthday, is a 114-acre park projected to open as early as summer 2014. It is not yet named.
It will join her Dollywood theme park and a water park in Pigeon Forge, about 190 miles away in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee.
“I’m not a bit afraid of competing with myself,” she said. “They are far enough apart. I live in Nashville, so it’s natural for me to have two working places.”
The planned venture will be a partnership with Gaylord Entertainment, which owns the sprawling Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center and the Grand Ole Opry country music show in Nashville.
The park is projected to have 500,000 visitors in its first full season with 450 full- and part-time employees.
Details about the new attraction were not announced except that there will be special winter festivities along with “lots of music,” said Colin V. Reed, chairman and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment. Another 35 acres are reserved for expansion.
Parton’s Dollywood theme park and Splash Country attract approximately 4 million visitors yearly. The theme park opened in 1986, and the water park in 2001. Parton also owns the Dixie Stampede dinner theater in Pigeon Forge.
She said she is not worried winter weather might hurt attendance at the new attraction.
“Unless there’s a blizzard, we’ll be ready for ‘em,” she said.
Reed also said he believes the new park will help draw people to Parton’s existing attractions.
The two described the partnership as 50-50 with no worries about financing.
“We have a strong balance sheet and an icon like Dolly with us,” Reed said. Groundbreaking is projected for late this year or early 2013.
Nashville has one other commercial water park, plus a city-owned wave pool.
According to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, the city has 11 million visitors a year. One million of those stay at Gaylord’s resort, which is across the road from the new park.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community