Things to Do in Dickson

Live goats scamper across a verdant vista dotted with farmhouses and open prairies at Lady-K Farm, a working dairy farm. Its owner, Karen, spends much of her days shepherding the farm's goats. She supplies bottles of their milk for local families and also uses it to create fresh-smelling bars of natural soap. In addition to wrapping bars in pristine packaging for wholesale, Karen has taught soap-making classes for 15 years to help others harness the milk's skin-softening benefits. Karen also sponsors an annual Goat Husbandry Conference to teach prospective goat owners how to care for the animals, especially when they dress in sheep’s fur in blundered searches for their own identities.

Tractor tires, spools, high wooden walls, and giant pipes sit between trees in the wooded fields of Red Leg Action Sports. To an uninformed passerby, the arrangement may look like a city built by Peter Pan’s lost boys. But to paintball players, the structures provide a network of protection and cover essential to strategy and dodging colorful projectiles. In addition to the facility’s collection of tree-studded fortresses, Red Leg Action Sports also hosts a field with a series of inflatable bunkers ideal for speedball games, capture the flag, and to help players wearing arm floaties blend into their surroundings better.

With a design inspired by the firing-range map found in Activision's popular video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, Springfield Airsoft Field's outdoor arena challenges BB gunners with game scenarios including capture the flag, king of the hill, and free for all. Equipped with eye protection and replica firearms that launch nonmetallic pellets, combatants find cover around buildings, towers, high fences, tunnels, and 8-foot tire walls.

During high-paced skirmishes, experienced players often utilize modern military tactics and practices, such as clearing rooms to exchange wallet-size photos of their newborn puppies. Though Springfield Airsoft Field is only available for tournaments and special events on weekdays, the field is open to the general public on Saturdays and Sundays.

The whinnies of quarter horses ring out across Barnfly Stables, where a trainer with more than 15 years of experience coaches steeds to take their riders' lead. The teacher breaks animals through groundwork and exercises in accordance with a training curriculum molded around ranch-riding and ranch-trail techniques, as well as reversing horses' rebellious behavior or sarcastic retorts. In addition to priming horses for riding or shows, staffers also breed affection for four-legged friends during lessons. Pupils of all ages master safety, grooming, and proper trotting techniques during sessions built on effective communication between the rider the ridden. They also season competitors for battle by honing techniques, such as barrel jumps, atop horses gussied up with stylish tack from Barnfly Stables' online shop.

As the summer sun dips lazily into the horizon, the air fills with an orchestra of buzzing go-karts and humming ziplines punctuated by floods of laughter. The revelry lasts into the night only to start anew the next morning, a cycle that will continue until Labor Day’s arrival sends Kentucky Shores Family Fun Center’s attractions into hibernation. Guests of all ages romp around the park’s verdant grounds, orchestrating aquatic collisions in the bumper boats or hopping aboard a horse-drawn carriage for a trip back in time without the hassle of having to arm-wrestle your past self. The 36-hole mini golf course adds a touch of the majestic to putting outings thanks to its two waterfalls and stainless steel sculptures forged by renowned artist George Bandarra. Indoors, an arcade beckons guests to video games and rounds of skeeball, and a snack bar staves off hunger pangs with frozen treats and gooey pizzas.