41st Christmas Past Celebration

Meet Saint Nick at the Festival of Christmas Past in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Meet Saint Nick at the Festival of Christmas Past in Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Photo credit: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Sugarlands Visitors Center will host the Great Smoky Mountains 41st annual Festival of Christmas Past celebration. The event is scheduled for Saturday, December 9th from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Sugarlands Visitor Center a half mile south of the Gatlinburg national park entrance. This event is cosponsored by the Great Smoky Mountains Associationand is free to the public.

The festival will include old-time mountain music, traditional shape note singing, mountain craft demonstrations, and a living history walk. Visitors can also experience these traditions through hands-on activities such as make-and-take craft stations. Hot apple cider will also be served throughout the day.

“Around Christmas time, people gathered in churches, homes, and schools where they celebrated the holiday through music, storytelling, and crafts,” said North District Resource Education Supervisor Stephanie Sutton. “The Festival of Christmas Past allows us to pause and remember some of these traditions.”

Make sure and add all the fun scheduled to your calendar so you don’t miss a single minute!

9:30 Shape Note Singing
11:00 Old-time mountain music with Lost Mill
11:00 Memories Walk
12:00 Old-time mountain music with Boogertown Gap
1:00 Smoky Mountain Historical Society
2:00 Appalachian Christmas Music and Storytelling – NPS Staff

Sugarlands Visitor Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Sugarlands Visitor Center is a must stop for any visit to the Great Smoky Mountains!

The popular Christmas Memories Walk will be held at 11:00 a.m. Costumed interpreters will lead a short walk from the visitor center and talk about life in the mountains during the holidays. Through this living history program, visitors will experience the spirit of the season in the mountains during the early days.

The Sugarlands Visitor Center is a must stop for any visit to the Great Smoky Mountains! Entrance to the center is free and it is open to the public every day except Christmas day. The Visitor Center has plenty of parking for cars, RVs, and motor coaches. Public restrooms and vending machines are available to the left of the center’s main entrance. Here you will find everything you need to experience the park at your own pace.

 

 

 

Biltmore Christmas Celebration

christmas at Biltmore Estate

The halls are decked with silver and gold this Christmas at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. Photo credit: Travel & Leisure

Biltmore Christmas Celebration is a must for young and old! It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Biltmore House which rises in the early morning mountain mist like a fairy-tale castle. There is really no bad season to visit Biltmore, the largest private home in America, located in Asheville, N.C., but possibly the most amazing time (and our personal favorite) is for Candle Christmas Evenings held between November 3 and January 6, and is the only time of the year that the mansion opens at night. Each year Biltmore decorators select a different theme, and this year’s “Gilded Age Christmas” takes cues from stories told and retold about early Vanderbilt family celebrations. A towering 55-foot Norway spruce, ablaze with 45,000 twinkling lights, and hand-lit luminaries welcome guests as they arrive along a long circular driveway that surrounds the front lawn. Firelight reflects on thousands of ornaments that decorate dozens of Christmas trees located throughout the mansion’s grand rooms, but the most amazing is a 34-ft. Frazier Fir, ornamented from top to bottom and surrounded by elaborately wrapped gifts, that forms the focal point in the immense Banquet Hall. Miles of garlands festoon doorways, mantels, chandeliers and hallways and live performances of Christmas music begin at the entrance and continue throughout the house
The magnificent French renaissance-style structure, which encompasses 80,000 square feet, was commissioned by George W. Vanderbilt in 1889 and christened with a spectacular Christmas Eve party held for his friends in 1895. Vanderbilt, who fell in love with the western North Carolina area after visiting several times with his mother, purchased 125,000 acres (land that included more than 50 farms and at least five cemeteries) in order to build his incredible Blue Ridge Mountain estate.

The Biltmore Mansion’s opulence has thrilled visitors for decades! Photo credit: Biltmore Estate

Evening tours range from $70 to $85 for adults as compared to daytime tours priced from $50 to $60. Whichever you choose there are plenty of activities to justify the cost. Daily seminars include decorating with holiday wreaths and creating holiday tablescapes are available and the estate’s conservatory hosts an annual poinsettia and tropical plant display. Santa Claus welcomes the younger set in Antler Hill Village (home to several eateries, the Biltmore Winery and gift shops) each weekend through Dec. 20. Those who prefer the natural quiet and serene sense of peace the holiday season confers may opt to drive through the now 8,000 acre estate and walk through the lavish 75 acres of Biltmore gardens, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, of New York’s Central Park fame. A variety of tours and package deals are available by visiting www.biltmore.com. Where you can also book al tour tickets online.

Raise a glass; find your pint and support the Blue Ridge Parkway 2018.

Find your pint while exploring the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. But remember HeySmokies fans – explore responsibly!

Raise a glass; find your pint and support the Blue Ridge Parkway. For the second time in as many years breweries from Asheville to the High Country and Virginia raised funds for the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway and its “Find Your Pint” event. Each brewery, some of which  created special beers to honor the highway and others, who highlighted flagship brews, donated a portion of sales to support the non-profit Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The Blue Ridge Parkway is considered the “sister” national park to the Great Smoky Mountains and a portion of the participating breweries are found in the HeySmokies region. More than 15 million people visited the 469-mile scenic highway last year; a number that exceeds the

The Blue Ridge Parkway via duct is an amazing and beautiful engineering achievement and must be driven to be believed!

combined visitation of Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon National Parks. A Passport Program encourages beer fans to collect Parkway Beer Passport stickers and booklets available at participating breweries. Be sure and set your calendar for 2018 and the 3rd annual find your pint tour!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Bridges the Foothills Parkway Missing Link

Great Smoky Mountains Foothills Parkway

The HeySmokies expeditionary team is excited about touring the new section of the Foothills Parkway!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Bridges the Foothills Parkway Missing Link. The long awaited bridge completion will herald the opening of a beautiful new section of the Foothills Parkway.

 National Park officials hosted a celebration for the bridging of the ‘Missing Link’ which completed a seven-year project to design and build five bridges at a cost of $48.5 million. This marks the first time that vehicles can travel the entire 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway extending from Walland to Wears Valley, TN.

“We are excited to mark another milestone in the completion of this spectacular section of the Foothills Parkway,” said Acting Superintendent Clay Jordan. “With the missing link now bridged, we look forward to finishing the final paving and then opening the roadway to the public by the end of next year.”

Construction of this 16-mile section began in 1966. Most of the roadway was completed by 1989 when the project came to a halt due to slope failures and erosion during construction of the last 1.65 miles – known as the ‘Missing Link.’ The engineering solution included the construction of nine bridges to connect the roadway in an environmentally sustainable manner. These last five bridges mark an important milestone by completing the ‘Missing Link.’ Since 1966, $178 million has been invested in this 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway spanning parts of Blount and Sevier Counties.

The HeySmokies expeditionary team has had the pleasure of touring the incomplete sections of the Parkway in recent years and we are excited to explore it completely when opened. In the meantime we can still enjoy the two sections that are open: Foothills Parkway East and Foothills Parkway West! Join us in 2018 for an auto tour that is destined to be absolutely incredible! Don’t forget to gas up!

Smoky Mountain Halloween Fun Events

Smoky Mountain Halloween Fun Events await those who dare enter these mountains during the month of October. Ghost stories about these mountains are legend but you don’t have to search the history books to discover fun here this Halloween with all of these great events happening!

Things are getting spooky at Dollywood this Halloween. Photo credit – Tricia Ford

Dollywood’s Great Pumpkin LumiNights This all new event for Halloween is a spook-tacular time for the entire family! Explore a Halloween path lined with thousands of carved and illuminated Jack-o-lanterns. LumoNights is the largest addition to the ever popular Dollywood’s fall festival. Come on down to Dolly’s and discover whimsical scenes of delight with Halloween inspired art sculptures and explore a friendly path thru Timber Canyon. Enjoy some great pumpkin flavored food and say hello to Harvey the Pumpkin and Vine Vinny. Cool weather treats like sliced candy apples, candy corn, cotton candy, and warm Coca-Cola apple cider will satisfy fall appetites. A master craftsmen will offer insider tips on carving the perfect pumpkin, and youngsters will enjoy getting a little spooky with glow in the dark face painting. The fun never stops at Dollywood!

Steel yourselves for the haunted adventure of a lifetime at Ripley’s! Photo credit – Ripley’s Haunted Adventure

Ripley’s Fright Night – It is no secret that Ripley’s Haunted Adventure is one of the scariest destinations in the Smokies year round. Each October, Friday thru Sunday evening, the fear factor gets an adrenaline shot! The 10,000 square foot facility is packed with ghosties and beasties, and things that go bump in the night. Due to the intense nature of the experience children must be at least 6 years old and those under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. There are no additional fees to experience the fright night fun except perhaps your screams!

The Halloween Carnival at The Island will be a scream of a good time!

The Island Halloween Carnival – Step right up! One day and one day only, Saturday, October 28, 2017 5 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. Be amazed by contortionists, stilt walkers, high- flying acrobats and much more at this action-packed outdoor carnival! Tap your toes along with roaming dance performers as they transform their traveling act into a creepy haunted caravan. Stop by the Selfie Studio and take free pics of your family and friends. Arriving early in costume will earn you 1/2 off unlimited ride passes for the enire day! You may be a winner in the costume contest which begins at 6:30 p.m. and is open to all ages with no pre-registration required. The festivities wrap up with a killer dance party hosted by the ringmasters and will include games and giveaways! Parking is free. If you want to avoid the traffic, a free trolley ride from Patriot Park is a great option. Overflow parking can be found at Belz factory Mall behind the Island.

If you just want to sit back and pass out candy to trick or treaters enjoy the re-release of our HeySmokies Halloween Matinee video in the safety of your own home. This video is rated “W” for Whaaaaaaaaat?