Edited from the Nashville Ledger:  

The announcement of a new $50 million water and snow park being built by Nashville entertainment giants Dolly Parton and Gaylord would seem to be great news for all of Nashville. More tourists, 450 new jobs and positive national exposure – who couldn’t rally around this news?

How about the owners of Nashville’s existing water parks, Nashville Shores and Wave Country? Surely they are feel like a mom-and-pop business watching a Walmart pop up next door.

Actually, even they seem excited.

“We think it will definitely be very helpful for business in this area,” says Lou Anne Wheeler, a manager at the nearby Jellystone Park campground. “We just went to an RV show in Huntsville and everyone who stopped at our booth said they heard about the new water park, so the excitement is everywhere already.”

Nashville Jellystone Park has 230 camping sites, and Wheeler says they are full during CMA week and would like to see more people stay there and enjoy the new theme park.

“We anticipate we will get busier when it opens because we are a family-oriented campground to begin with. We are pretty excited about it,” she adds.

Read the full article here.