| Pigeon
Forge, TN – February 2016 / Newsmaker Alert / Pigeon
Forge lives up to its nickname of the “Center of Fun in the Smokies”
with winter and spring special events that include cowboys, American folk
art, a parade with an international celebrity and a celebration of America’s
most visited national park. Here’s the lineup of city-sponsored events
from February through May.
Saddle Up
Saddle
Up is a celebration of the American West featuring western music, cowboy
poetry and a highly competitive chuck wagon cookoff. Dates are Feb. 17-21.
It is the 16th year Pigeon Forge has brought cowboy culture to the Smokies.
Poets and performers such
as Dave Stamey, R.W. Hampton, Yvonne Hollenbeck and Chris Isaacs will star
in full concerts, small performances and “intimate evening” dinners that
include steaks to make any cowboy or cowgirl happy. Events are at the LeConte
Center at Pigeon Forge and other venues.
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The chuck wagon cookoff
is Feb. 20, and it features nine cook teams from five states. It’s dutch
oven cooking at its best, and Saddle Up guests can buy lunch from the team
of their choice. Before lunch, a family-oriented Buckaroo Roundup will
teach youngsters how to throw a lasso and maybe how to yodel.
A Mountain Quiltfest
More than 550 artfully designed
and carefully stitched quilts will chase more than $20,000 in prize money
at A Mountain
Quiltfest, an event featuring classes, demonstrations and special activities
that has drawn quilters and fans of fabric art to Pigeon Forge for 22 years.
Dates are March 15-19 at the LeConte Event Center.
Twenty quilt categories will
be displayed, including ones with this year’s special theme – log cabins.
A Mountain Quiltfest includes more than 70 classes and lectures about America’s
popular folk art taught by world-class instructors. There is a fee for
classes, but admission to quilt displays and a vendor mall is free.
In addition to the classes,
many people visit A Mountain Quiltfest to get appraisals of quilts that
are family heirlooms.
Dolly’s Homecoming Parade
For 31 years, Pigeon Forge
has saluted the area’s most popular singer, songwriter, movie star and
philanthropist – Dolly Parton – with Dolly’s
Homecoming Parade. This year’s date is May 6.
Pigeon Forge shuts down half
of the Parkway, the main thoroughfare through town, for a small-town parade
that would make Norman Rockwell proud. Parton herself leads the parade
in a float whose theme is kept secret every year until parade day.
Tens of thousands of Parton’s
fans line the Parkway, and she uses a sound system on the float to call
out to special friends she spots. The rest of the parade features high
school bands, twirlers, equestrian groups, fire trucks, go-carts, clowns
and more.
Wilderness Wildlife Week
Wilderness
Wildlife Week is Pigeon Forge’s annual salute to Great Smoky Mountains
National Park and an array of nature topics. It offers five days of free
photography workshops, seminars, art classes, children’s activities, hikes
and excursions. Dates are May 18-22.
The major focus is on Pigeon
Forge’s next-door neighbor, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most
visited of all American national parks. The 26th presentation of Wilderness
Wildlife Week takes on special significance because 2016 is the centennial
year of the National Park Service.
Program presenters include
professional photographers, botanists, biologists, hiking experts, talented
artists and mountain musicians. All donate their time to spread the word
about enjoying the beauties of nature on display in the national park and
throughout the Southern Appalachians.
Information about all aspects
of visiting Pigeon Forge is available online at MyPigeonForge.com
or by calling toll-free 800-251-9100.
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Contact:
Tom
Adkinson, APR
for Pigeon Forge Department
of Tourism
615-341-8796 |
