Category: Events

Saddle Up!, a Pigeon Forge celebration of the American West, returns to Pigeon Forge Feb. 19-22, 2009. The event brings some of America’s finest western musicians and cowboy poets on a rare visit east of the Mississippi River.

Featured entertainers for the 2009 Saddle Up event include Wylie & the Wild West, The Quebe Sisters Band, Juni Fisher, Andy Wilkinson, Andy Hedges, Paul Zarzyski, Kent Rollins, and Jim Hawkins.

Wylie & the Wild West have performed on stages around the world, fronted by yodeler, rancher and world-famous “Yahoo-er” Wylie Gustafson.

Additional Saddle Up! activities include a Saturday night Western Swing Dance and Sunday morning Cowboy Church followed by an authentic chuckwagon lunch.

Concert venues are Country Tonite Theatre and Smoky Mountain Jubilee Theater. The western swing dance will be at the Music Road Convention Center, and Cowboy Church will take place at Stages West. There will also be an Old Mill Chuckwagon Cook-off at Belle Island Village.

Weekend passes, excluding the Cowboy Symphony, are $50 plus tax. Day passes are $30 plus tax. Concert tickets for Thursday night are $15 each. Tickets for Cowboy Symphony are $20 plus tax. Ages 17 and younger are admitted free.

Weekend passes and Cowboy Symphony tickets will be available in advance at Country Tonite Theatre, 1-800-792-4308, or onsite on Thursday, Feb. 19. Day passes for Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be available onsite at American Jukebox Theater. Admission to the dance is $5 per person. Cowboy Church is free and will be followed by the chuckwagon lunch where a $5 minimum donation will benefit Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

During Saddle Up!, on Feb. 19-22, Tennessee Shindig will host a Chuckwagon Jamboree. Information and tickets are available at 888-908-3327.

Saddle Up! has also been named a Top 20 Event by the Southeast Tourism Society.

If you are looking for Pigeon Forge lodging, be sure to check out our list of Pigeon Forge cabins and our list of the best Pigeon Forge hotels. If you would like to stay in Gatlinburg, TN we also have a list of Gatlinburg, TN cabins as well as a list of the best hotels in Gatlinburg.

The Inside Pigeon Forge Getaway Giveaway ended up being an incredible resource for anyone interested in visiting Pigeon Forge, TN. The tips & ideas submitted were GREAT, which made this contest extremely difficult to judge! In the end, 1 person won the grand prize of 24 show tickets while two other entrants were awarded some tickets as well.

There was, however, another person who submitted numerous tips throughout the forum that we felt was also deserving of the grand prize. His tips & ideas have been incredibly helpful and we wanted to recognize him with the same package of 4 tickets to each of 6 different Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group shows for a total of 24 tickets. The folks at Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group were very generous and provided another set of complimentary passes to see their shows!!! WOW!

There will be more contests coming up here at Inside Pigeon Forge, so join the newsletter by using the sign-up box to the right to be among the first notified!

We would like to give an extra special “Thank You” to everyone that participated in the Inside Pigeon Forge Getaway Giveaway and providing amazing tips for visiting Pigeon Forge, TN. We are also extremely grateful to the Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group for their generosity. If you haven’t seen their shows, then you’re missing out! The next time you come to Pigeon Forge, make it a point to experience any of their shows as they are all family friendly and will leave you laughing, clapping, smiling, and fed! Visit the websites for each of their shows by clicking any of the logos below.

The first of many contests at Inside Pigeon Forge has come to an end and it has simply been incredible! For those of you that didn’t enter or aren’t aware of what it was, we asked for the best tips for visiting Pigeon Forge to be posted in the new Inside Pigeon Forge forums. The person with the best tips would receive a bundle of 4 tickets to each of 6 different shows…for a total of 24 tickets worth over $600! What resulted was an amazing list of ideas, tips, reviews, etc that make visiting Pigeon Forge, TN so enjoyable. In this contest, everyone is a winner as this list of tips is simply priceless. I wish more visitors knew these tips…so start spreading the word and sharing this with anyone that may be visiting the Smoky Mountains!

So for those of you that did enter the contest, I’m sure you’re wanting to know who won! I have to admit…you sure didn’t make it easy on the judges…these tips are great! In the end though, we had to choose one person to award the Inside Pigeon Forge Getaway Giveaway. That lucky person is……….drum roll…….

The winner of the Inside Pigeon Forge Getaway Giveaway is “chellek24” (That’s the name given on the forum) for post #111!!!!

Chellek24 will receive:

4 tickets to 6 shows = 24 tickets total!

• Comedy Barn
• Black Bear Jamboree
• The Miracle Theater
• Magic Beyond Belief
• Blackwood Breakfast Variety Show
• Triumphant Southern Gospel Show

 

Total Value = $673.48!

So what made chellek24’s post the winner? The tips went an extra step beyond where to go and what to do. Extra tips were given on almost every suggestion that was made. As she recommended the Old Mill Restaurant, she went a step further and mentioned it being cheaper to eat there during the week and all of the food one would get. When the Comedy Barn was mentioned, she provided a tip of buying the souvenir keychain to save money down the road. Then she suggested Magic Beyond Belief and how to get free popcorn. She also mentioned that parking is free in Pigeon Forge as opposed to most places in Gatlinburg where you have to pay…and then made the suggestion of riding the trolley as an alternative…a great suggestion to a common complaint in the area. Congrats chelle24!

View Chellek24’s winning tips & ideas

MORE WINNERS! – The insiders were touched by two special posts and wanted to take this contest a step further and do something for them as well. The first person selected is Glenna Gamble who recently lost a close family member during their vacation. Glenna wrote, “I’m praying that this year we can do something extra special that will keep Mom’s mind occupied and not thinking so much of last year.” The insiders wanted to help with this and the Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group donated more tickets for these special people. Glenna will be receiving 4 adult passes to Black Bear Jamboree, The Miracle Theater, and the Blackwood Breakfast Variety Show…12 passed in all!

The next person selected is Misty Pensinger who is 40 years old and just recently started talking to her Dad. Misty will be taking a trip to Pigeon Forge with her Dad and Step Mom for the first time and they will now have 3 tickets to Black Bear Jamboree, The Miracle Theater, and the Blackwood Breakfast Variety Show (9 tickets total). This should give Misty and her family plenty of memories for what is sure to be an incredible vacation.

Finally, thank you to everyone that submitted tips for this contest. The ideas given are so valuable to anyone looking to visit Pigeon Forge. I encourage everyone to read through the tips as there are guaranteed to be ideas that you hadn’t thought of or heard before. I know the insiders learned quite a few things we had never known! This is the first of many contests to come, so check out the website and participate in the forums often as those will be the places to find clues leading up to the next contest!

A special THANK YOU goes to the Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group who provided the tickets for this contest. Their shows are all family friendly and highly recommended.