With the Harvest Festival season done for the year, now we look forward to gearing up for the big holiday festivities to last until the start of 2017. We do this with a series of Winterfest Kickoffs in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville where we party, have some entertainment groups play on stage, build some fun sets for the kids, shoot off fireworks (in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg), cook up some chili (in Gatlinburg) and throw on the Winterfest lights for trolley tours and driving visitors.
Some years have at least a couple of these events going on at the same time, but this year each Winterfest Kickoff is on different days – one after another. Sevierville has their Winterfest on November 7th from 3:00PM to 8:00PM, Pigeon Forge (which is what we’ll focus on here) has their Kickoff on November 8th from 4:00PM to 6:00PM and Gatlinburg has their Kickoff on November 9th from 5:00PM to 8:00PM.
Things are a little bit different with the Pigeon Forge Winterfest kickoff this year. There won’t be a parade to start the event, but it will begin all the same at 4:00PM at Patriot Park. There will be a kids’ play area, presentations from the Mayor and City Manager of Pigeon Forge, fireworks, a stage with music entertainment and, of course, the big switch for the Winterfest lights coming on followed by FREE trolley tours of the Winterfest lights.
The schedule as posted by Mypigeonforge.com includes:
“4:00 PM: Kids Area opens up Days Gone By Old Time Games
5:00 PM: Activities start from stage National Anthem presenting of colors: Mayor and City Manager to speak recognize Volunteer of the Year Grace Stottlemeyer
5:15 PM: Count down to lights being turned on *in Patriot Park only immediately followed by 3-4 minutes of fireworks
5:30 PM: Entertainment starts from stage: Jimbo Whaley & Greenbrier, Pistol Creek Catch of the Day & the Pigeon Forge Community Chorus: Note some members of Pistol Creek will be strolling through park earlier entertaining
6:00 PM: FREE Trolley Tour of Lights rides will start
Local Girl Scouts will be selling hot drinks and cookies and we will have Winterfest shirt sales also.”
See more on Pigeon Forge’s Winterfest Kickoff.
