NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Here are few names that might take you back. Grizzly River Rampage. Old Mill Scream. Screamin' Delta Demon. Yes, we're talking about Opryland USA. After four years of work, a man is sharing the beloved park's story in a film.
"Just capturing moments, candids is kinda my passion," said documentary filmmaker Brandon Vestal.
Vestal's world is cameras, editing timelines, and the people whose stories he tells.
"Time is of the essence to capture these stories before its too late," he said.
I dropped by to see Vestal in January 2023. He was already deep into a project that was especially personal. Some old pictures of Vestal as a kid show him dodging the water at the Old Mill Scream ride at Opryland USA.
"We spent every day at the park," he remembered. "We spent every day of our summers there with season passes. At the time, it was just what everyone did."
If you missed its run, this is a little of the history. Opryland opened in 1972 and the mix of music and rides made it beloved to many locals and a major driver of tourism. One day, the story ended. Opryland closed in December 1997 to make way for Opry Mills mall.
"Opryland had an incredible archive of video content that was lost in the 2010 flood in a basement on Broadway," Vestal said.
He decided to do something for Opryland.
Vestal started collecting all sorts of Opryland items, but the heavy lift was gathering hundreds of hours of footage of the park including people's home movies.
"This particular video from 1981 is a gold mine," Vestal said. "This guy didn't know it, but he's a budding Spielberg. These candids of the park from 1981 are phenomenal."
Vestal was hard at work on a documentary. He had so much to sort through, I asked him at the time what he hoped people would get from a finished film.
"I hope that it brings people together in this divided world," he answered. "We all can agree this was a great thing and celebrate it together."
Celebrating together was exactly what happened. A red carpet premiere was held at the Belcourt Theatre by the Nashville Film Festival on Wednesday. The Opryland fandom headed in for a showing of Vestal's film, Opryland USA: A Circle Broken.
"It's been four years of collecting, crowd sourcing home video footage," Vestal said from the red carpet outside. "It's been the eternal side project, and thanks to the film festival, we had a deadline to finish it."
People from the Opryland story were here. There was longtime Opryland performer Russ Jeffers.
"We came to work at Opryland in 1974," Jeffers remembered. "It was a folk show then. We did the last song at that little theater on the 31st of December [1997]."
Also there was Bob Whittaker, former general manager of Opryland.
"The loss of that park meant so much to this community," he said. "The loss of that park meant so much to me. Losing it never made any sense."
Vestal doesn't know just yet where and when the public can see the film.
"I'm hoping it's a story that could be told on one of the streaming platforms or in theaters one day," he said.
On Wednesday, a crowd got a peek back at something they've missed for a long time.
"I know that you probably share the love for this park," Vestal said, speaking to the crowd. "This is a love letter to Opryland, so enjoy."
"I just feel very proud to be the person who gets to tell this story," he said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
It's migratory season for billions of animals across the United States. That means millions of birds and butterflies will take a rest stop in Tennessee and Kentucky as they move south for winter. Tennessee state parks are working to create vital habitat for the migrating monarchs. You may be able to follow their lead around your home to help reverse a declining monarch population.
- Lelan Statom
