Pigeon Forge Host the 19th Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival

Truth may be in short supply, but humor and great entertainment will be in abundance in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., for a three-day talkfest in June.

June 10-12 are the dates for the 19th annual Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival, one of many stops on Pigeon Forge’s year-round calendar of special events.

The festival, one of the Southeast Tourism Society’s “Top 20 Events” for June, features performers including a Harvard-educated storyteller whose alter ego is a moose, a Kentuckian who got in trouble even as a third-grader for stretching the truth and an East Tennessean who invented a musical instrument made from a toilet seat.

“Storytelling, especially Appalachian storytelling, has a great heritage, and our festival celebrates that tradition to the hilt,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism.

In addition to hearing professional storytellers, you’ll also hear from area storytellers who are members of the Smoky Mountain Storytelling Association and from young storytellers who have been invited from across the U.S.

You’ll also be able to attend storytelling workshops. In the workshops, you can simply observe how master storytellers pass on their skills, or you can dive right in and start developing your own talents.

This year’s featured storytellers:

Willie Claflin – Willy’s from California now, but he grew up in New Hampshire, which might explain why he travels with Maynard Moose. Maynard, you see, is the last known teller of Mother Moose Tales. Claflin, who has been a headliner at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., says his off-stage fame comes for “helping save endangered squeaking rubber animals.” His latest recording is “The Goat Whisperer.” Claflin’s the one with Harvard on his resume.

Mary Hamilton – Mary is a daughter of the Bluegrass State who tells Kentucky tales, world folk and fairy tales, legends “and even some true stories.” She’s widely known for teaching the storytelling art to teachers, librarians and speakers, and she’s appeared at festivals from Florida to Oregon. She obviously didn’t take to heart her third-grade teacher’s admonitions to always tell the truth.

Mountain Man Bob – Mountain Man Bob is Bob Phillips from Jonesborough, Tenn. He invented a musical instrument, the modie-harp, which you’ll quickly see is an unusual second use for a toilet seat and lid. Mountain Man Bob tells tales of his own invention, plus some rooted in Appalachian lore. He said he takes pride in the fact that all of his stories are true, “based on the remote possibility that there exists a slim chance of possible fact.”

The young storytellers at the Pigeon Forge festival are participants in the National Youth Storytelling Showcase. At least 15 students from various states are invited to perform. There are categories for grammar school, middle school and high school storytellers, plus a category for duos or groups.

All programs of the Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival will be at the Grand Majestic Theater. Tickets are $10 per day, or $25 for the weekend. The schedule offers morning workshops and afternoon and evening performances all three days. Late-night sessions with a $5 donation benefit the Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association.

Information about all aspects of visiting Pigeon Forge’s website or by calling toll-free to 1-800-251-9100.

Take Back the Family Vacation with Pigeon Forge’s help

Do you have a friend you’d like to help with $100 in gas money? How about utilities for a year? Or 12 car payments? Or perhaps a year of mortgage payments?

The vacation destination of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., can help you accomplish exactly that.

The method is Pigeon Forge’s “Taking Back Vacation” campaign, which continues through July, when one family will win $15,000 for mortgage or rent payments.

Pigeon Forge, a major family vacation destination and a gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is conducting the campaign in reaction to the nation’s economic troubles of the past two years.

“We believe in the family vacation, and we feel family vacationers are our guests. Our whole community feels this way, and ‘Taking Back Vacation’ is our way to demonstrate that. It’s unusual for a whole destination to do this, but its our way to support a lot of families,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism.

All winners – and the people who nominate them – also will receive three-day vacations in Pigeon Forge.

The nomination process requires two clicks at Pigeon Forge’s Web site, www.MyPigeonForge.com, and composition of a 100-word essay. Visitors to the Web site will choose the winners from the posted essays.

“Too many people have had to curtail family time recently, and we want to draw attention to how important family vacations are. Those times together are vital, and places such as Pigeon Forge can be the glue that binds families,” Downey said.

The “Taking Back Vacation” campaign grows from April through July.

* In April, 20 families will win $100 for gasoline.
* In May, 10 families will win $2,100 for utility payments.
* In June, five families will win $6,600 for car payments.
* In July, one family will win $15,000 for mortgage or rent payments.

Pigeon Forge made a similar outreach in 2006, a year of unexpected jumps in gasoline prices, by giving away a tanker truckload of gas.

“Our ‘Great Gas Giveaway’ was loads of fun,” Downey recalled, “and we want the ‘Taking Back Vacation’ idea to be the same. Our goal in Pigeon Forge is making people happy and creating good memories.”

Pigeon Forge has a resident population of about 5,800, but it attracts more than 10 million visitors a year. It is home to Tennessee’s most visited tourist attraction, Dollywood, as well as more than a dozen theaters, scores of family attractions and more than 250 outlet, craft and specialty stores.

Its next-door neighbor, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is the most visited national park in the U.S.

“We’re in a great location and have tons of fun to offer. We hope parents will see us as a destination for family fun – before their kids outgrow childhood,” Downey said.

For more information visit Pigeon Forge’s website.

“Saddle Up!” Festival Brings Cowboy Poetry, Western Music and Chuckwagon Grub

Cowboy poets, western singers and chuckwagon cooks are just over the horizon from Pigeon Forge, Tenn., preparing for the 10th celebration of Saddle Up!, a perhaps unexpected celebration of cowboy ways east of the Mississippi River.

Saddle Up!, Feb. 25-28, 2010, is the last major component of Pigeon Forge Winterfest, a four-month season of activities that started in November. The entire Winterfest celebration is on the American Bus Association’s list of the Top 100 Events in North America.

Like stars over a clear prairie sky, the entertainment lineup sparkles with Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, R.W. Hampton, Dave Stamey, Ray Doyle and Jeff Gore. Two western swing dances will get guests showing off their best two-stepping techniques.

The pop culture side of the cowboy life will be featured through appearances by James Drury and other stars of “The Virginian,” the 1962-1971 hit TV Western. “The Virginian,” the first 90-minute Western, told the story of the fictional Shiloh Ranch near Medicine Bow, Wyo.

Autograph sessions and question-and-answer opportunities are planned with Drury, Roberta Shore, Gary Clarke and Randy Boone. Drury appeared throughout the series.

A competitive chuckwagon cookoff is another Saddle Up! highlight. Teams of chuckwagon cooks will prepare an authentic trail hand lunch for guests’ enjoyment—and the critical evaluation of judges.

The closing event is Cowboy Church, a non-denominational service preceded by strong coffee and a chuckwagon breakfast.

Admission information: Concert day passes are $20 per day and $50 for the weekend (free through age 17). The chuckwagon cookoff lunch, chuckwagon breakfast and western swing dance are $5. Admission to “The Virginian” event is free.

Wilderness Wildlife Week To Feature 230 Programs In 2010

So what’s an outdoorsman supposed to do? He wants to be on the lake or in the woods, but his wife and kids just don’t understand.

The answer is to get his family excited about the outdoors, too, and one solution is letting Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., generate that excitement.

Wilderness Wildlife Week is a January event with more than 230 programs spread over eight days. There are sessions about bears, elk, trout and other species, plus nature photography workshops, map and compass classes and even opportunities to meet a bald eagle or learn how to hoot like an owl.

Almost 60 hikes and excursions into the national park complement the indoor programs. In 2009, more than 1,000 hikers from 18 states logged a cumulative 4,656 miles.

“The range of topics is huge. I think virtually everybody can learn something, be entertained and get turned on to outdoor activities,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism, which organizes the week.

Dates for Wilderness Wildlife Week’s 20th year are Jan. 9-16, 2010. More than 150 experts—outfitters, nature photographers, biologists, raptor rehabilitators, social historians and just plain folks who grew up in the Smokies—donate their time to the project.

“The week is extremely flexible. You can attend one lecture or take one hike, or you can participate day after day,” Downey said. “It’s a great way to introduce people to the outdoors.”

Here’s a sampling of program titles:

• Bears 101—Their Lives and Interactions with Humans
• Update on Elk in the Smokies
• Identifying Local Birds of Prey
• How To Use a Map and Compass
• Whose Scat Is That?
• Steam-Stocked Trout Fishing
• If You Were a Bear
• Fly Casting
• Bears We’ve Met—Stories of Encounters
• Returning the Osprey to Nest in Tennessee
• Six Months of Hummingbirds in Your Yard
• Tales from “Lost” (finding lost hikers)
• Hypothermia—I’m Not Cold
• Black Bear Management in Tennessee
• The Wolves of Bays Mountain
• Unusual Camping Tricks and Gizmos
• Hiking Tips for the Whole Family
• Wild Hog Biology

Wilderness Wildlife Week began 19 years ago as a half-day program on a January Saturday. January hasn’t been the same since then in Pigeon Forge. The Southeast Tourism Society has chosen it 10 times as a Top 20 Event in the Southeast.

The Duggar Family Will Turn On The Millions of Winterfest Lights in Pigeon Forge

Twenty special guests will help Pigeon Forge kick off the 20th celebration of Pigeon Forge Winterfest. Collectively, they are the Duggar family from TLC’s “18 Kids and Counting” reality show.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 18 natural-born children—plus one on the way—will flip the switch to illuminate millions of lights and start the four-month winter event that runs through Feb. 28, 2010.

The grand illumination will conclude an opening event at the city’s Patriot Park on Nov. 5 (Thursday) at 5:30 p.m.

Pigeon Forge Winterfest, which transformed winter from a quiet season to one of the city’s busiest, is a Top 100 Event in North America, according to the American Bus Association

Expansive and elaborate Winterfest light displays are located throughout the city. More than five million lights are used, and several displays—including the celebration’s signature snowflakes along the Parkway—have been fitted with energy-saving LED bulbs.

Dollywood enhances the first two months of Pigeon Forge Winterfest with Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas, a two-time winner of the Golden Ticket Award for the nation’s best theme park Christmas event. Dates are Nov. 7-Jan. 2, 2010.

Dollywood adds to Winterfest’s light displays with more than four million lights of its own and the nightly Lighted Christmas Parade. It’s musical entertainment lineup includes “Dollywood’s Babes in Toyland,” “Christmas in the Smokies” and “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” plus the Polar Express 4-D Experience, a multi-sensory cinematic experience based on the beloved Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg.

Pigeon Forge has more than a dozen theaters, and most of them offer special Christmas show segments during November and December. While some do take a post-New Year’s break, several offer their signature shows in January and February.

Dollywood Receives “Best Shows” Award From The Golden Ticket

Dollywood took home its first-ever trophy for Best Shows and claimed a second consecutive win for Best Christmas Event at the 2009 Golden Ticket Awards ceremony on Sept. 10, 2009, at LEGOLAND California in Carlsbad.

Dollywood was a finalist in four additional categories, taking third place honors for Friendliest Park and Cleanest Park and fourth place honors for Best Food and Best Water Ride for the Mountain Slidewinder. Dollywood’s Thunderhead, twice named the number one wooden coaster in the world, placed fifth in the rankings of Top 50 Wooden Roller Coasters in the World.

“Congratulations to all of the Golden Ticket Award winners and the finalists on their well-deserved honors,” says Gary Slade, publisher and editor-in-chief of Amusement Today. “The competition is friendly, but the voting is becoming tighter every year. It’s fun to see parks and attractions the world over vying for a Golden Ticket Award, which truly recognizes superior quality in all facets of the amusement industry.”

The Golden Ticket Awards are presented to the “best of the best” in the amusement industry and calculated from an international poll conducted by Amusement Today magazine. Surveys were sent to a database of experienced and well-traveled amusement park fans around the world–in balanced geographical regions–asking them to rate the “bests” in 25 categories such as amusement parks, roller coasters, shows, friendliest staff and water rides.

Amusement Today newspaper covers international amusement and water park news and trends and in its 13-year history is a five-time winner of various awards from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

Dollywood is a 150-acre family adventure park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Open nine months a year (March 28, 2009-Jan. 2, 2010), Dollywood offers more than 40 rides and attractions; award-winning live entertainment featuring country, bluegrass, gospel and mountain music; and a dozen crafters authentic to the East Tennessee region. For more information, call 1-800-DOLLYWOOD or visit the Dollywood website