Pigeon
Forge, TN – April 2016 / Newsmaker Alert / For five days in
May, you can learn about bears and trout, hone your nature photography
skills, join a celebration of gospel singing, discover your artistic side,
and even meet President Franklin Roosevelt – all for free.
The occasion is the 26th
annual Wilderness
Wildlife Week, Pigeon Forge’s salute to Great Smoky Mountains National
Park, Mother Nature and the heritage of the Southern Appalachians. Dates
are May 18-22 at the LeConte Center
at Pigeon Forge.
For its first quarter-century,
Wilderness Wildlife Week was a January event, and 2016 marks its move to
springtime.
“Moving to spring opens the
door to visitors who were reluctant to travel in winter. It also lets us
introduce a variety of new programs,” said Leon Downey, executive director
of the Pigeon Forge Department
of Tourism, which organizes the week filled with more than 250 programs
and 40 hikes, field trips and excursions in the national park and surrounding
area.
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Event manager Butch Helton
said 2016 is special because this is the centennial year of the National
Park Service, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the system’s most
visited park. More than 10 million guests visit the 800-square-mile park
every year.
“We’re going to do our part
to help more people understand and be active in our treasured neighbor,”
Helton said.
President Roosevelt appears
courtesy of actor Gary Stamm. Stamm’s keynote program on May 18, “A Fireside
Chat with FDR: Celebrating a Century of the National Park Service,” will
recall Roosevelt’s dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in
1940.
An array of programs fills
all five days. Among the topics:
-
900 Miles and Then Some: A Hiking
Journal
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Logging Railroads of the Smokies
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Waterfalls of the Southern Appalachians
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Turn Your Photography into Art
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Recording the Smokies: An Audio
Journal
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Leave No Trace: Principles of
Outdoor Ethics
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Fly Fishing the Smokies
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Bears in the Back Seat
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Painting the Smokies
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Moonshine: The Past, Present
and Future
-
A Miller’s Life (about the historic
Old Mill in Pigeon Forge)
-
Birds of Prey Live Bird Show
-
The Art of Dowsing: Do You Have
the Gift?
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Gospel Music of the Smokies
Experts in numerous fields donate
their time to deliver programs. Among them are current and retired National
Park Service rangers, wildlife experts, artists, local historians and musicians.
In addition to FDR, evening
programs include “Heaven and Nature Sing,” a presentation from Wilderness
Wildlife Week creator Ken Jenkins; Dr. Bill Bass about the University of
Tennessee’s famous “Body Farm”; and “Tales From Lost,” recollections from
retired backcountry ranger Dwight McCarter about searches for people lost
in the wilderness.
Complementing those programs
is a series of hikes in the national park and field trips to destinations
such as the American Eagle Foundation’s research and rehabilitation facility
On May 21, the first Appalachian
Homecoming is planned at Patriot Park. This is a celebration of music,
storytelling, children’s games and antique tractors. The Cades Cove Preservation
Association will have a fundraising picnic, capped at 200 dinners, in conjunction
with the event.
Wilderness Wildlife Week
attracts people from throughout the U.S. A voluntary sign-up sheet in 2015
identified visitors from 28 states. The most distant were from Alaska,
California, New York and Wyoming.
Information about all aspects
of visiting Pigeon Forge is online at MyPigeonForge.com
and by calling 800-251-9100.
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Contact:
Tom
Adkinson, APR
for Pigeon Forge Department
of Tourism
615-341-8796 |