Music of the Mountains Festival on April 17-19 in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park celebrates National Park Week with the 11th Annual Music of the Mountains Festival Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 19, 2015.

Music is a tradition that runs deep in the hills and hearts of Southern Appalachia. It tells the varied stories of the pioneering folk who called these mountains home. What we know today as Bluegrass, Roots, or Old-Time music had its beginnings in the traditional Celtic and religious music of these early mountaineers. And this weekend you can hear some it at Music of the Mountains in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

Performances will be held in the National Park and at venues in the surrounding communities. Here’s the schedule so you can get your toes a tapping!

Friday, April 17
Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Townsend
865-448-0044
Admission: $5
7:00 p.m. – Four Leaf Peat (traditional Celtic music)

Saturday, April 18
Sugarlands Visitor Center
865-436-1200
Admission: Free
10:00 a.m. – Boogertown Gap
11:00 a.m. – Lost Mill String Band
12:00 p.m. – The Freight Hoppers
2:00 p.m. – Time Simek on Dulcimer (Two-time National Champion)

Saturday, April 18
Plaza at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies
865-430-8808
Admission: Free
4:00 p.m. – Youth Pickin’ Contest* (ages 8-17)
*For registration information, call Gatlinburg CVB at 800-588-1817.

Sunday, April 19
Liberty Church of Cosby, 4304 Liberty Road
423-487-2800
Admission: Free
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Heritage, Harps and Hymns Old-Fashioned Community Sing

National Junior Ranger Day in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on April 25

Great Smoky Mountains National Park celebrates National Junior Ranger Day on Saturday, April 25, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at Cades Cove Visitor Center, Oconaluftee Visitor Center and Sugarlands Visitor Center.

This free event for kids and families includes special activities like ranger-guided walks, old-fashioned toy making, fun stuff at the blacksmith’s shop, and more! Learn all about the Park’s wildlife with hands-on activities with animal skins, bones and even scat!

Children ages 5-12 can become a Great Smoky Mountains National Park Junior Ranger. Simply pick up a Junior Ranger booklet for $2.50 at any of the Park’s Visitor Centers or Cades Cove and Elkmont campgrounds. Complete all the activities in the booklet, stop by a Visitor Center and talk to a Ranger to receive your very own Junior Ranger badge!

Be sure to take advantage of the fun and informative Ranger-led programs offered by the National Park Service this season. Click here for a complete schedule of programs.

In related news, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park recently launched Find Your Park, a public awareness and education campaign to set the stage for the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016. Find Your Park encourages the public to get out and really experience  our national parks so that they are not only seen as a destination, but a state of mind, a special feeling to bring about a sense of American pride in our nation’s exquisite natural and cultural gems of the National Park system.

Find Your Park is also the theme for this year’s National Park Week, April 18 – 26.

“National Park Week is a time for visitors, of all ages, to get out and experience their national parks, especially the Great Smoky Mountains,” says Superintendent Cassius Cash, “I hope during National Park Week and over the next year as we celebrate the National Park Service’s second century, everyone will take the opportunity to Find Your Park.”

Appalachian Trail Thru-hikers to enjoy “Trail Magic” Welcome to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Easter Sunday

Fontana, North Carolina – HeySmokies.com will greet thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail as they enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with some “Trail Magic” to celebrate the Easter holiday on April 5, 2015.

As part of the Appalachian Trail’s 90th Anniversary this year, the HeySmokies.com team will serve a complimentary Easter picnic to individuals who are currently hiking the entire length of the 2,189 mile-long footpath that runs from Georgia to Maine.

“Trail Magic is something no thru-hiker expects, so when it happens it’s quite a welcome surprise,” says Brad Knight, co-founder of HeySmokies.com, “This is just a great way to pay it forward for the Trail Magic when I hiked.” Knight completed a six-month thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1997.

Northbound hikers enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just after crossing over Fontana Dam in North Carolina. They will traverse 71 miles through the National Park’s high country to exit at Davenport Gap in Tennessee. The highest point on the Appalachian Trail is at Clingmans Dome at 6,643 ft.

“We expect to feed anywhere between 20 and 50 thru-hikers,” says Knight, “we coordinated with Jeff Hoch, the owner of The Hike Inn, to scout out a great location on the trail just a few miles before they reach Fontana.”

Although millions of people hike sections of the Appalachian Trail each year, only about a hundred hikers actually complete the entire trail. Most thru-hikers begin the trek in early spring at Springer Mountain, Georgia to walk north with the seasons.

Spring Breakers Site Sasquatch in the Smokies

Spring breakers from Panama City, Florida report a Sasquatch siting in the Smokies on April 1, 2015. This recent encounter has the local population on edge as fears escalate. The Sasquatch, a large half-bear / half-man creature, was believed to dwell only in the Pacific Northwestern U.S. until recently.

That belief changed early this spring when park visitors reported a large “creature” walking up-right near populated areas. Officials urge the public to keep a close eye on children and pets until the creature can be positively identified.

“Dude, it was big,” says spring breaker Jeff Spicoli. The mystery has intensified as it has been documented that all wildlife have fled the areas where the encounters occurred.

“I thought it was strange all the animals just left the area,” says local ranger I.B. Lyon, “then I noticed the huge footprints. It was a big foot no doubt about it.”

Lyon further explains,” I went back to the Jeep to call it in on the radio and my vehicle was gone. It was like someone just picked it up and carried it off. Those big foot prints were everywhere!”

He was there all alone in the Smokies wilderness and no way out. And somewhere deep in the forest Lyon heard a growling sound…

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Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge Hosts 3rd Annual Book Signing Fair


Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge hosts their 3rd Annual Book Signing Fair beginning March 13 through April 12.

Our fascination with all things Titanic have provided us with hundreds of books on the subject. Now is your opportunity to check out some of the latest books and meet the authors!

You’ll have the opportunity to meet the incredible Lowell Lytle, author of Diving into The Deep. Lytle holds the distinction of being the oldest and possibly the tallest person to dive 2.5 miles deep in the North Atlantic Sea to see the wreckage of the Titanic first-hand. His inspired character portrayal of Captain E. J. Smith has entertained generations and is not to be missed.

Here’s the rundown of the authors with whom you’ll have the chance to meet:

Friday, March 13 – Sunday, April 12 (times vary)
Lowell Lytle, Diving into the Deep

Tuesday, March 24 & Wednesday, March 25 (10:00 am – 5:00 pm)
Cheryl Mure and Cassandra Jones, Ahoy Titanic

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