View from Newfound Gap Road
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has always been a favorite of our family. There is so much to do there you could possibly never get it all done in a lifetime. Next year they will be celebrating their 75th anniversary with numerous activities planned. They have a website just for this celebration at http://greatsmokies75th.com .
One of their planned events is the Women's Work Festival on June 20, 2009 at the Mountain Farm Museum located right off of I-441 or Newfound Gap Road. (It’s very close to the Cherokee Indian Reservation.) The event will run from 10 AM to 4 PM and you will be looking into the past roles of women in the rural communities. There will be demonstrations of hearth cooking, cornshuck dolls, spinning, natural dyeing, clothes washing, music, quilting and more.
National Trails Day next year is on June 6, 2009. Staging starts at 7:30 AM while the work time is 9 AM to 5 PM with a picnic to follow. Registration is $15.00 per person. Volunteers at Great Smoky Mountains NP participate in a planned work day doing important trail maintenance work on the Appalachian Trail. It’s a fun day with food, a commemorative t-shirt and door prizes.
The Fontana Hiking Club in Fontana Dam, North Carolina has planned 75 hikes for the 75th Anniversary. They will be going on all year long and will range from easy to difficult hikes along the Appalachian Trail and various scenic hikes in the Great Smoky’s. Those interested in hiking at any time of the year will want to check this out. The Fontana Hiking Club’s website will have more information on it closer to the dates.
February 5-8 is the Winter Heritage Festival in Townsend, TN. It has free and some pay events and lasts all day and into the evening. This festival focuses on the human history of the Appalachian Mountains with classes, tours, exhibits, music, hikes, and demonstrations. You can learn about the Eastern Cherokees, the logging and railroad era, mountain music and dance and the creation of the national park.
The Heritage Paintings & Photographs Exhibit and 'Dinners on the Grounds' takes place in Gatlinburg, TN from 4/1/2009 - 11/30/2009. Louis Jones was the first artist to move to the Smoky’s solely for the purpose of painting the mountains. At the same time, Ed Hunt was surveying and photographing the National Park while a member of the CCC's. So, the Cliff Dwellers Gallery will exhibit original artwork of Louis Jones, Ed Hunt's historic photographs and other 1930's memorabilia. The exhibit is 10a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The dinner will be every first Sunday in May, June and July and is based on what a typical dinner at the Wonderland Hotel would have been like during that time frame. Dinners will be served from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. They are charging 35 cents and a donation of $5 for the meal-quite a deal! The $5 is donated to the park.
For the Civil War buff, you have to catch the Battle of Burg Hill- Civil War Re-enactment June 12-14. It’s free and allows your family to learn the history and experience Civil War living first hand. The reenactment takes place in Gatlinburg, TN.
Also in Gatlinburg is the Fourth of July Midnight Parade the night of July 3. Celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Great Smoky Mountain National Park as the theme for the 2009 Fourth of July Midnight Parade should generate over 1000,000 spectators at midnight to see this world class event.
A Mountain Quiltfest is taking place in Pigeon Forge, TN at the Music Road Hotel Convention Center on March 11-15, 2009 from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Admission is free so all of you who enjoy quilting or just looking at these labors of love will not want to miss this. A special quilt pattern will be designed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the park and participants can compete for the best rendition of this pattern and win $2,500. A Mountain Quiltfest is an annual event celebrating its 15th year in 2009. More than 25,000 people participate in some way during the event with some 800 taking classes offered by nationally-recognized expert quilters. More than 300 quilts are displayed.
The HiYak Festival is scheduled for April 17-19 and is free to attend. Located at Nantahala National Forest at Fontana Village and Fontana Lake in NC, it’s where hikers and kayakers come together for river and lake maintenance, lectures, music & food and much more. Fontana Village is located on the Appalachian Trail between the Cheoah River and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
For those who like their food with music, there’s the Bloomin' Barbeque & Bluegrass on May 15 and 16. This is a Tennessee State Championship Barbeque Cook-Off that regularly hosts over 50 teams from around the nation who come to Sevierville to compete for cash, prizes and the title of TN State Champion. There are also great free concerts from bluegrass legends. You can even learn to play bluegrass instruments!
For you trout fishermen there are a couple of festivals dedicated just to you. The 20th Annual Great Smoky Mountain Trout Festival is July 20, 2009 in Maggie Valley, NC. The cost is just $2 for adults while kids 12 and under are free. Activities include an educational/nature expo, fly-fishing demos, free kids zone aquarium, live music, crafts, trout race with cash prizes, wildlife show, food, famous fried trout dinners, and more! The Talking Trees Children's Trout Derby takes place in Cherokee, NC, in the heart of the Cherokee reservation. The all day event entertains more than 1,000 children annually and is free to kids 11 and under. The event features fly-tying exhibitions, fish-cleaning stations, food, music and door prizes. Trout fishing in Cherokee is exceptional, thanks to an outstanding Cherokee hatchery and stocking program and the streams are popular with visiting anglers from all over.
Heritage Day at Old Mill Square in Pigeon Forge, TN takes place September 19, 2009 from 10:00a.m. - 7:00p.m. Visitors will be able to experience demonstrations of how life was when the Mill was the center of the community beginning in 1830. Throughout the day, music is being played on the square, food (fried cornbread and pinto beans, fried apple pies are being cooked in cast iron pots and apple butter is being stirred as it simmers in an iron pot over an open fire. There is a great restaurant in the Mill as well as a unique store. The area is surrounded by exceptional shops so be sure and stop by the Old Mill Square.
There are a great many other outstanding events going on all year long, so please check out the website to find out all of the events available and see what suits you and your family. If you have never been to the Great Smoky Mountains, you have missed a fantastic experience of natural beauty and uncommon cultural heritage. Whether you enjoy the rugged great outdoors or just shopping and sightseeing, you will find it all in the Great Smoky Mountains.
By Corie Marks