Tara McCoy: The City's Fearless Fashionista Lives Life in Full Throttle After Setbacks

Her unbridled heart and soul fill Silver Dollar City’s www.silverdollarcity.com main shops—not only with memorable merchandise—but also with a palpable energy that inspires her team to live life out loud!

“My life is loud because I’m loud,” she laughs. “My team might even say I’m bossy. That’s because I ask a lot of questions because I care so much.”

About to start her 14th season at Silver Dollar City in Merchandise https://www.silverdollarcity.com/theme-park/attractions/shopping/, the stylish Tara will tell you she’s always been a “retail nerd” drawn to pretty things. After a fashionable 23-year career with JCPenney, she landed into leadership at The City in 2012 with a love for merchandising within the Silver Dollar City culture.

Her fun wardrobe is a reflection of the fearless spirit that helped her reclaim her life after a series of setbacks starting the day she was born.

“I was born on December 23 and given up for adoption, so I kid around that I spent my first Christmas all alone. I keep things light! Darkness can drag you down.

Raised with supportive adoptive parents, Tara would later learn the power of loving a child who isn’t biologically yours. She became an instant mother of three little boys under age five when she found the love of her life, Michael McCoy!

“It all just worked! They were loving and open to me,” she recalls with a smile. “We made a lot of special memories raising them. From going to Blockbuster every Friday for a movie, the pool on weekends and lots of sports.”

Tara and Michael added a little girl to their rowdy brood of boys.

“My mini-me Megan,” she gushes. “Still my best friend today!”

The McCoy family of 6 was dealt a life-changing blow two years into Tara’s tenure at Silver Dollar City. Jesse, the youngest of the boys, died in a car accident in 2014. He was only 21. In the midst of their own pain, Tara and her family chose to channel their grief into a source of strength for others through the quietest act of kindness—purchasing headstones for a few unmarked graves surrounding their son’s.

Tara’s unwavering faith has pulled her past hard times throughout her life, and she’d need it more than ever for another fight in 2017—a cancer diagnosis.

“After finding out I had breast cancer, I let go and let God. I just went through the motions and did what I had to do to beat it, trusting God all the way.”

And, she did. Clad in a stylish—of course—stocking hat, Tara rang the survivor bell loud and proud to mark the end of chemo!

“I emerged from that battle driven to work in a whole new direction. Life before cancer is different than life after. Your perspective changes. I’m not going to let anything stop me now! I’m going to be fun in my present life and live life to the fullest! It’s okay to be fun as long as you’re a good person.”

Tara, who just celebrated her 30th wedding anniversary, volunteers with the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks and even organizes breast cancer events in her hometown of Billings. She also recently took a different kind of walk—on the wild side—buying a motorcycle.

“I had no idea how to ride it at first. Who cares! I want people to know that there is life after cancer. And, it’s a good life.”