All the Smoky Mountains Have to Offer this Weekend and More!
This weekend Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Seveirville and the Smoky Mountain foothills area is a bustle with amazing events! From a live Nativity scene, a journey back in time to before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established, an art gallery open house and guitar concert to a Smoky Mountain Christmas Celebration, your weekend in the Smokies will be full of adventure, entertainment and enrichment.
Read on for the schedule of exciting Smoky Mountain events:
December 8-11th:
Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Sevierville presents the 15th Annual Live Nativity. This outdoor walk-through production takes you throughout Evergreen's church grounds and transforms you to the little town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born in a manger. The live characters really make you feel like you have traveled in time to Bethlehem over two thousand years ago! Evergreen's church grounds are located beside the Belk department store in River Place Shopping center. Admission is free and the Nativity is open from 7-9 p.m. daily, weather permitting. After walking through the live Nativity scene, you can head to the Evergreen sanctuary for an autobiographical film on Jesus Christ. Parking is available in the River Place Shopping center. Call 865- 428-3001 for more information.
Primitive Quartet Performing Live December 9th and 10th:
Native to Candler, North Carolina, the Primitive Quartet, a southern gospel and bluegrass group will perform at the Pigeon Forge National Parks Resort Lodge at 7 p.m. tonight, December 9, and on Satuday the 10th. Be ready for some great old-time mountain singing from the band of brothers, Mike, Reagan and Larry Riddle, Norman Wilson, Randy Fox and Jeff Tolbert.
The group is very well established, touring regularly in 25 states and Canada, with television appearances, numerous award nominations, 25 songs placing in the Singing News Top 40 charts and a new CD just released titled, "Who Rolled the Stone Away". Band members say that Pigeon Forge is one of their favorite places to perform and they have been visiting regularly for the past 25 years.
Special guest Tony McGee & New Covenant as well as a Christmas program will be included in Friday nights performance. On Saturday evening New Road will accompany Primitive Quartet. Admission is $10 at the door; for more details call 865-453-4106.
December 10, 2005:
Stop by the Sugarlands Visitor Center for a grand "Festival of Christmas Past" this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can participate in activities themed in culture, history and Smoky Mountain tradition while celebrating the yuletide season! This event is known as a holiday classic in the area, with handmade gifts, music, storytelling and traditional Smokies holiday delicacies the Festival of Christmas Past gives a glimpse into Smoky Mountain Christmas celebrations from over a century ago.
At noon, Santa-Claus donned in his charming late 1800's style suit will be escorted into a large heated tent for visits with children. Fourteen artisans and crafters will be on hand demonstrating quilting, mountain basket weaving, old-time toy crafting, needle point, split hickory and corn shuck chair making and water color painting. Food connoisseurs will be whipping up batches of molasses, apple cider and fresh applebutter for all to taste. Music provided by the Lost Mill String Band, the Sevier County Old Harp Singers, the South of the River Boys, and the Locust Ridge Boys will add an extra special mountain tone to the event.
You can greatly improve your historic knowledge at the Smoky Mountain Historical Society's booth offering books and plenty of information. Stories told by local residents recalling life in the Smokies before the opening of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will also teach you a fact or two! Moreover, to really feel like you have traveled back in time, walk the Memories Along the Trail route with costumed interpreters including a teacher from Fighting Creek Elementary, a midwife, a storekeeper, a hunter/mountain man, a logger's wife, a girl from the Sugarlands community, and a farmer's wife. All the characters will teach you how Smoky Mountain residents lived in the olden days and how they prepared for and celebrated Christmas.
The Festival of Christmas Past is a fun, enlightening, family friendly event! For more details, call 865-436- 1291.
December 9-11th:
Sevierville's New Hope Church will be throwing the 3rd Annual Smoky Mountain Christmas Celebration at the new location of New Hope Church on Highway 66 in Sevierville. Look forward to live animals, handmade costumes, dancing, singing, and special effects with multiple scene changes. The large cast will keep you entertained as there is never a dull moment in this show! Organizers have gotten rave reviews the past two years and expect and even better show this year with enhanced lighting and sound effects.
This energetic performance begins at 7 p.m. and runs Friday, December 9 through Sunday, December 11. Doors open at 6:30 and seating is first come first serve; admission is free but tickets must be reserved in advance by calling the church at 865-932-4673.