Origins of Sarsaparilla

We have one weekend under our belt for our 2nd Annual Thunder Mountain Fall Festival and both our staff and guests had a great time enjoying all the fall activities in the park. If you missed us last weekend, no worries because our Fall Festival at the Lake of the Ozarks will take place every weekend in October, so you still have plenty of time to join in on the fun at our family attraction at the Lake of the Ozarks. From pumpkin painting, caves tours, pedal tractor racing, and much much more, there is something for everyone to enjoy at the Fall Festival. One of the popular stations at our Fall Festival is our sarsaparilla making tent! Not sure what sarsaparilla is? Continue reading to find out!


What is Sarsparilla? 

During our Fall Festival, we show you what goes into making sarsparilla soda, which is much like an old fashion root beer. But what exactly is sarsparilla? Sarsparilla is a vine that grows in warmer clients in southern states in the US and Central & South America. These vines can even grow up to eight feet long! Oddly enough, the edible part of the plant is the roots and they also produce small berries.

History of Sarsparilla

Sarsparilla has been around a long time and the Native Americans were known for using sarsaparilla for many uses. The Native Americans often used it to relieve respiratory diseases, stomach aches, and most commonly made into cough syrup. After the Native Americans introduced the sarsparilla to the Spaniards, it was taken back to Europe and used to create beverages like tea, wine, jelly, and other treats.

If you come to our Fall Festival you can see what the sarsparilla root looks like and a demonstration of how to get the delicious sarsparilla flavor into a carbonated soda. We even have free samples of the delicious beverage as well as glass bottles for purchase.


Other Activites in the Park 

In addition to our sarsparilla making demonstration, we have tons of fun family activities to enjoy! Every child ticket gets a FREE small pumpkin to paint! We also have tractor pedal races, a corn crib, haybale mountain, fire pits with s'mores. giant fish to feed, pumpkin chunkin range, giant tick tack toe, and much more! New this year, we will even have a food truck on Saturdays provided by The Broken Rib Food Truck! Our Fall Festival is fun for the whole family and the perfect way to spend time with one another over the weekend.

Custom painted pumpkins by our pumpkin artists for just $5! 

Don't Miss Our Fall Festival! 

You won't want to miss our 2nd Fall Festival happening every weekend in October! You can enjoy all the fun activities happening for our Fall Festival with the purchase of a tour ticket to Bridal Cave. Enjoy the normal cave tour and at no additional charge enjoy all the activities associated with our Fall Festival. For a nominal charge, you can even take home some fall decorations like pumpkins, mums, corn stocks, and straw bales at a discounted price. We hope to see you at our Fall Festival one weekend this October for some family fun...as it should be!



One of America's most scenic 
cave tours.

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526 Bridal Cave Road
Camdenton, MO 65020
(573) 346-2676

Location: Camdenton, MO 65020, USA

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