ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 27, 1993                   TAG: 9305270186
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

THEATER'S CIVIL WAR THEME QUESTIONED

The day after a new $10 million tourist attraction was announced, the facility's Civil War theme has raised questions about whether it would be objectionable to blacks.

"We applaud your effort to bring business and amusements to the city," Susie Whitehurst of the Seatack Civic League told City Council. "However, please do not rise to a situation that would be offensive and end the progress we've made."

On Monday, city officials announced that Virginia Beach was selected over 21 other ocean communities as the site for the third Dixie Stampede dinner theater. The attraction features a cast of 200 performers who use horses to perform tricks and skits.

But the attraction's North vs. South theme and its Confederate flags and uniforms brought about 20 speakers to the council Tuesday night who echoed Whitehurst's concerns that the attraction might not be something blacks would consider fun.

Fred C. Hardwick, chairman of Dixie Stampede, said he was open to making changes. He said the North-South theme might remain but "the flags and stuff like that" could be dropped.

Dolly Parton, the country singer who owns the corporation that founded the attraction, knows how it feels to be mistreated, Hardwick said. "Dolly was labeled a hillbilly and would also feel very uncomfortable about anything that was an ethnic slur or would make people uncomfortable, because she's been in that same position," he said.

The council approved the project unanimously, but members appeared shaken by the opposition.

"I am convinced that with the reasonable corporate citizens we are dealing with, these concerns will not go unnoticed or unaccommodated," said Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf.

The attraction, expected to open next summer, draws about a half-million visitors a year in its two other locations in South Carolina and Tennessee.

Speakers from resort hotels, restaurants and shops strongly endorsed the project.

"Dixie may not be the miracle cure for our lagging tourist business, but it certainly spells relief," said Joe Hawa of the Resort Leadership Council. 


 by CNB