Pigeon
Forge, TN – March 2014 / Newsmaker Alert / Visitors from at
least 22 states attended Saddle Up, a cowboy culture special event that
Pigeon
Forge organizes as its last major component of Pigeon Forge Winterfest.
The five-day celebration
in late February featured concerts by top cowboy and cowgirl musicians
and poets, a chuck wagon cookoff and other western-themed activities. The
event, now 14 years old, has been named a Top 20 Event in the Southeast
by the Southeast Tourism Society.
“Saddle Up had two major
accomplishments – it entertained people royally, and it attracted visitors
from a wide area, including from states not usually in our visitor data,
especially in winter,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon
Forge Department of Tourism.
Visitors came from as far
away as Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Idaho and Massachusetts, Downey reported,
in addition to Pigeon Forge’s usual market area of states in the Southeast,
mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
“I spoke to one gentleman
at the chuck wagon cookoff who had made the trip from Raleigh just because
he’d seen a TV feature about chuck wagon cooking and searched for the closest
one to him,” Downey said.
Most Saddle Up events in
2014 were in the new LeConte
Center at Pigeon Forge, and event organizers were pleased with the
venue.
“We had two small-scale dinner
shows that we called ‘Intimate Evenings’ and multiple large-scale concerts.
All worked well, and our guests and performers were pleased,” said Butch
Helton, special events manager for the tourism department.
Performers this year were
Don Edwards, Red Steagall and the Boys in the Bunkhouse, Hot Club of Cowtown,
Belinda Gail, Andy Nelson, Ray Doyle, T. Scot Wilburn and the Shut Up -N-
Playboys, and Joyce Woodson.
Helton said discussions already
are underway for the 2015 lineup.
Pigeon Forge’s next city-sponsored
special event is Dolly’s Homecoming Parade, a salute to Dolly Parton, on
May 2.
Information about all aspects
of Pigeon Forge is available online at MyPigeonForge.com
or with a toll-free call to 800-251-9100.
|
Media Contact:
Tom
Adkinson, APR
for Pigeon Forge Department
of Tourism
615-341-8796 |
