Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge Events

66th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, 2016

Posted April 15, 2016 by Tony Perez

Springtime in the Smoky Mountains means the hour of the wildflower has arrived in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. To celebrate, thousands of people from all over the world have come to the area to join in the annual 5-day Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, for a glimpse of magic.

The pilgrimage is from April 19-23, and offers more than 150 different classes, talks, evening programs, guided trail hikes, walks and even motorcades to all the best places to see the most wildflowers. Most events are by registration, with a few presentations open to the general public.

Image courtesy of Spring Wildflower Pilgrmiage

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2016 Spring Rod Run: A Pigeon Forge Party

Posted April 13, 2016 by Tony Perez

rod4 Pigeon Forge shows the world what a real American party looks like on this early weekend, Thursday through Saturday, April 14-17. It’s the 2016 Spring Rod Run, and the streets are awake all day and LATE into the night with a slow cruise of automobiles built mostly for muscle, and totally for style.

If you thought about trying to drive anywhere in town during this event, change your plans, or at least slow them down to a steady cruise in low gear. Traffic is dense during this street party, and parking can be tricky – your good walking shoes are your friend in this event, and with so much to gaze at, it’s the best way to get around anyway.

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2016 Spring Art Experience at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

Posted April 13, 2016 by Tony Perez

Images courtesy of Arrowmont

Gatlinburg’s internationally acclaimed Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is offering a chance to meet with history and learn new skills this weekend with its annual Spring Art Experience, held Thursday through Sunday, April 14-18, 2016.

The weekend program is a celebration of the school’s rich and long history, and includes 2 days of workshops in arts and crafts, a storytelling of the area’s history, Appalachian music, a wine tasting, and a Sunday brunch with a special program featuring this year’s artists in residence.

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Wine Fest 2016 at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

Posted April 8, 2016 by Tony Perez

Image courtesy of Wine Fest

Is wine-making an art or a craft? Vintners will tell you it’s both, and Smoky Mountain wine country mingles with the arts crowd this weekend in two events.

The 4th Annual Wine Fest at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts happens Saturday, April 9, 1-6 pm. This highly successful event features the different wines of 17 local wineries, accompanied by culinary masterworks from local chefs as pairings. The school’s own art is on display in its own marvelous galleries.

Meanwhile, on Friday, April 8, the Arts & Crafts Community celebrates the opening day of its Hands-On Gatlinburg 3-day festival by welcoming the evening Wine, Dine and Art Crawl – more smartly known as The Wine Tour. The Tour offers a taste of hors d’oeuvres at each of three Gatlinburg wineries.

Wine Fest

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Hands On Gatlinburg 2016: Create Your Own Arts and Crafts Treasures (With Expert Help)

Posted April 7, 2016 by Tony Perez

Four hands on – image courtesy of Hands On Gatlinburg

Would you like to get expert personal instruction in creating your own work of art in the craft of your choice? This weekend is your time, as the renowned arts and crafts community of Gatlinburg starts a new venture, inviting the public into its studios and workshops to create the treasure of their very own making.

Hands On Gatlinburg is a 3-day weekend event, April 8-10, 2016, Friday through Sunday, with more than 15 different studios offering more than 40 classes of hands-on teaching and mentoring. Some of the classes are one-on-one, as in the case of glass-blowing, for example.

How about that? Now you can come to Gatlinburg and learn to blow a unique, custom glass object or ornament, almost all by yourself!

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2016 Spring Smoky Mountain Trout Tournament

Posted March 30, 2016 by Tony Perez

Image courtesy of Gatlinburg.com

It’s springtime in the Smoky Mountains, and it’s time to go fishing! Saturday and Sunday, April 2-3, the largest trout tournament in the Smokies is held again, in over 20 miles of local streams stocked with thousands of trout.

The 18th Annual Spring Smoky Mountain Trout Tournament is open to all comers, with prizes in many categories. Children are especially well catered to in this family-friendly event. There’s a children’s division as well as an adult division, and a tourist division as well as one for locals.

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Easter 2016 Weekend in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge

Posted March 25, 2016 by Tony Perez

It’s Easter 2016 here in the Smoky Mountains, coming early this year on March 27. Here’s what’s going on through the Easter weekend in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

If you want to take the kids on an Easter Egg Hunt and to meet the Easter Bunny, then Pigeon Forge gets you the earliest start on Saturday morning, March 26. It’s an excuse to dress the kids up cute, take photographs that last forever, and get everyone all excited. Best of all, the events are Free.

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Dollywood’s 2016 Festival of Nations

Posted March 17, 2016 by Tony Perez

Dollywood opens its 2016 season with its annual Festival of Nations, a smorgasbord of talent from around the world gathering in the Smoky Mountains for a month of exciting shows each day from March 19 through April 18.

Each year, Dollywood reaches out across the globe for some of its finest talent, bringing a world mix of traditional sound and color, updated into stunning and often newly created performances. Food and craft-works mingle with costume, dance, song, acrobatics and funny jokes and antics from more than two dozen countries around the world.

Image courtesy of Dollywood

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2016 Spring Corvette Expo

Posted March 14, 2016 by Tony Perez

Start your engines for the spring season of muscle cars, hot rods, classics and customs, and first out of the gate in 2016 is the annual Spring Corvette Expo in Sevierville.

The Corvette Expo happens Friday and Saturday, March 18-19, at the Sevierville Convention Center. The show features an auction with lots of hot cars, a swap meet, a Corvette Cruise, and cash prizes in several categories for entered cars.

Images courtesy of the Corvette Expo

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A Mountain Quiltfest 2016 in Pigeon Forge

Posted March 10, 2016 by Tony Perez

Springtime in the Smoky Mountains means it’s time again for the massively popular Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge. 2016 marks the 22nd year of this annual event, held March 15-19 at the LeConte Center.

The festival attracts 20,000 people from across the country and the world, who come to admire the unique and stunning quilts on display. Many attendees will also compete in over 20 categories of quilt design, for more than $22,000 in prizes.