Bluegrass & BBQ Festival To Feature Top Musical Artists and Award-Winning BBQ

Silver Dollar City’s award-winning Bluegrass & BBQ Festival fills the 1880s theme park with the sounds of bluegrass and the aroma of smoked barbecue, May 4 - 29. Now pickin’ for 19 seasons, Bluegrass & BBQ features over 35 of the nation’s top bluegrass artists throughout the theme park’s various indoor and outdoor theatres.

Named “Event of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), top bluegrass artists take the stage during the festival’s twenty-day run, including Grammy-winning “Queen of Bluegrass” Rhonda Vincent and her band, The Rage. SPBGMA Band of the Year The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys performs alongside other popular and legendary bands, like The Grascals, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, The Cleverlys, and Blue Highway. “Guests will tap their toes to numerous artists all day, every day,” notes Amanda Carson, producer of Bluegrass & BBQ. “We have chart-toppers to up-and-comers, along with long-time guest favorites and groups who are sure to become park staples in the future.”

Satiating appetites throughout May’s springtime weather, The City’s own pitmasters work hard to hickory-smoke a variety of meats for up to 16 hours, including pulled pork, barbecue chicken, beef brisket and smoked sausage, all part of the Bluegrass & BBQ Tasting Passport. New recipes and dishes like the ancho chili smoked pork belly skillet, barbecue chicken mac and cheese and a bourbon barbecue pulled chicken sandwich with green apple slaw are a few select items from the passport, available for use at 22 eateries throughout The City.

Silver Dollar City continues to support and nurture the future of Bluegrass music with the annual Silver Dollar City Youth in Bluegrass Band Contest on May 27, sponsored by KSMU radio station. The best and brightest of young bluegrass musicians from across the nation will compete to win the top cash prize.

While Bluegrass & BBQ heats up the later half of spring, Fire In The Hole continues to stoke flames during the indoor coaster’s “Grand Finale Season.” This year marks the last operating season for the “World’s Most Historic Indoor Coaster” open now through Dec. 30. And, just across the street, 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Silver Dollar Saloon Show. With odes to performances over the past fifty years peppered throughout the show, guests join in on the fun with producers Roots and Koontz as they attempt to whisk together the Frontier Follies 50th Celebration, an endeavor that turns into a zany, folly-filled family show created exclusively for The City.

Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ Festival is presented by Midwest Ford Dealers.