Peter F. Herschend, Herschend Family Entertainment

Peter Herschend is co-owner and co-founder of Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation (formerly Silver Dollar City, Inc). He served as vice chairman of the organization for many years.

Peter has become well-known for his efforts to help set the direction of tourism and education in Missouri, develop roads, improve environmental awareness, community betterment, and extend the annual tourism season in the Branson area by championing such community projects as Branson Country Spring and Ozark Mountain Christmas.

Peter’s extensive professional involvement includes 15 years of service on the Missouri State Board of Education (current president); president of the Missouri Attractions Association; board member of the Travel Industry Association of America; and past president of the Ozark Marketing Council, an organization he helped create. He and his brother Jack were named to the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions Hall of Fame in 2004, and were co-recipients of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Central Midwest for 2005.

Peter holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1958). He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri (1989).

Like his brother Jack, Peter has devoted most of his life to his family's business interests. The brothers successfully combined their skills to develop several major attractions. Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation (HFE) owns, operates or partners in 17 properties in 7 states. Properties include Branson, Missouri’s Silver Dollar City theme park, Showboat Branson Belle lake attraction, White Water water park, Talking Rocks Cavern, The Wilderness at Silver Dollar City campground and Celebration City theme park. HFE is an operating partner with Dolly Parton in the Dollywood Company, which owns the Dollywood theme park and Dollywood’s Splash Country water park, both in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The Dollywood Company is also the largest shareholder in the Dixie Stampede dinner attractions located in Branson, Pigeon Forge, Myrtle Beach and Orlando. In Georgia, HFE operates Atlanta’s Stone Mountain Park in conjunction with the state of Georgia. HFE owns Ride The Ducks amphibious tours in Branson, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Memphis.

Since the company was founded in the early 1960s, the many properties have been internationally awarded numerous times for excellence in theme, presentation and operations, including the worldwide Applause Award for excellence and the THEA Award (Themed Entertainment Assoc.).
The attractions now employ over 5,000 men and women, and annually host more than 10 million guests.

An avid fund raiser on behalf of those with multiple sclerosis, Peter participates annually in the local MS 150 Bike Tour and for several years has been the event’s top individual fund raiser in the nation, generating more than $1 million in 17 years of involvement. He also serves on the board of directors of Camp Barnabas, a southwest Missouri Christian summer camp for children who suffer from terminal illnesses or other conditions. He has been wife JoDee's right hand in the development of the ministry to single moms that she has been leading, “The Caring People."

Married 40 years, Peter and JoDee have five children and eight grandchildren.