July 2009 Archives

Please be advised that the contractor will start the temporary widening of the inside shoulders of State Route 66 on Monday, July 27. The work will be performed at night to avoid conflicts with peak business hours. The contractor will close the inside lane of southbound SR-66 each night at 7:00 p.m.; starting at Boyds Creek Highway and working southbound toward town. The lane will reopen each morning at or before 6:00 a.m. The contractor will work Sundays through Thursdays 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The temporary widening of the inside lane of northbound SR-66 will begin once the southbound temporary widening is complete. Crews will also be working during the day during this time but will not require lane closures. Information obtained from MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, inc.

More than a festival, Celebrate Freedom is a discount program exclusively to honor our heroes. If you're active military, active reservist, a member of the National Guard, retired military or veterans, law enforcement, firefighter or emergency medical workers, you're entitled to special discounts from a wide variety of Pigeon Forge merchants when you show your ID at the Pigeon Forge Welcome Center. Save at shopping centers and on attractions including indoor skydiving, golf, canoe trips, helicopter tours, restaurants and shows throughout the month of August.   

Check out the new Three Bears General Store that's risen from the ashes of the Three Bears Gift Shop. The Pigeon Forge landmark burned to the ground last September. The store was a total loss but the lives of the bears within were spared thanks to quick work by firefighters. The bears are off-site right now as their new and larger habitat is under construction, but there is still plenty to see at the new store that is four times larger than the previous. Many of the same items and services will still be offered at Three Bears, along with a few new and updated offerings.

The old-time photograph area on the top floor of the second-story building has been expanded, complete with seven three-dimensional scenes where customers have their pictures made. There's a stage coach, a saloon, a bank, a hillbilly porch, a parlor and a brick building facade that will be backdrop of a street scene for gangsters, complete with an antique car.

The second floor also holds a new arcade, a Make-A-Bear shop and soon the Christmas and home decor area will be complete. Downstairs, the store still stocks all the collectibles Three Bears was known for, plus new lines of collegiate and NASCAR products, handbags and food products like jellies, jams and salsa. 

On September 2 a rededication of the park, reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic 1940 park dedication speech, will be enacted at the Rockefeller Memorial at Newfound Gap. Special invitations to attend the ceremony will be issued accompanied by live broadcasts at the parks gateway communities. Visit our seventy-fifth anniversary page for more events celebrating this park milestone.

Country star Merle Haggard has canceled his tour due to illness, including his planned performance at Smokies Stadium on Saturday. Smokies Stadium manager Dennis Snider said Haggard's management called earlier today to say that Haggard was headed home to California and was not going to perform the five remaining shows on the current tour because he had taken ill. Haggard, who is 72, performed two shows in Milwaukee on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Haggard's performance at Smokies Stadium was part of Smoky Mountain Fan Fest, which includes appearances by television and film actors, including stars from the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard," and a concert by country performers. The rest of the event will still go on, including concerts by Janie Fricke and Cooter's Garage Band. Snider said partial refunds for the show will be given for those who choose not to attend. Details are not yet available, but should be posted on www.concertsinthesmokies.com  when they are complete.

A year ago Christus Gardens, a popular religious attraction in Gatlinburg, TN, closed.  For 49 years Christus Gardens taught visitors about the life of Jesus through out the use of wax figures.  It was a much loved attraction by locals and tourists  but was closed down in 2008 to become a land development for condominiums.  The condo deal fell through and now Christ in the Smokies Museum will open in Christus Gardens spot on River Road.

Hundreds, even thousands of visitors have expressed their sorrow about losing this major religious attraction. We are pleased to announce that the entire visitor and local citizens request will be satisfied with a new Christ in the Smokies Museum which will have a soft opening in early fall with a grand opening in spring 2010.

Tennessee's fourth annual August Sales Tax Holiday, which gives back-to-school shoppers the opportunity to purchase certain clothing, school and art supplies, and computers free of Tennessee sales tax, will begin on Friday, August 7. "Getting ready to go back to school is a busy, important time for families to prepare their children for success," said Governor Phil Bredesen. "This Sales Tax Holiday is an opportunity for families to enjoy savings on those items that kids need to be ready for a successful school year."

The long weekend of savings begins at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 7 and ends on Sunday, August 9, at 11:59 p.m. The state's dedicated Sales Tax Holiday Web site, www.tntaxholiday.com, has been updated with new materials, including information about exempt items, frequently asked questions and more.

During the designated three-day weekend, consumers may purchase select clothing with a price of $100 or less per item, school and art supplies with a price of $100 or less per item, and computers with a price of $1,500 or less without paying Tennessee's state and local sales tax on the items. The tax holiday also includes purchases of qualified items sold via mail, telephone, e-mail or Internet if the customer orders and pays for the item and the retailer accepts the order during the exemption period for immediate shipment, even if delivery is made after the exemption period.

Examples of exempt items include:

• Clothing: Shirts, dresses, pants, coats, gloves and mittens, hats and caps, hosiery, neckties, belts, sneakers, shoes, uniforms whether athletic or non-athletic and scarves

  
  

• School Supplies: Binders, book bags, calculators, tape, chalk, crayons, erasers, folders, glue, pens, pencils, lunch boxes, notebooks, paper, rulers and scissors

  
  

• Art Supplies: Clay and glazes; acrylic, tempera and oil paints; paintbrushes for artwork; sketch and drawing pads; and watercolors

  
  

• Computers: Central processing unit (CPU), along with various other components including monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables to connect components and preloaded software (Note: While the CPU may be purchased separately, other items must be part of a bundled computer package in order to be eligible.)

The Titanic Museum Attraction is anchoring in Pigeon Forge and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2010. The attraction will be a model of the original ship, scaled to one half of the original size. The inside of the museum will house three decks and 20 galleries holding hundreds of authentic and priceless Titanic artifacts. More than just artifacts will be at the museum though. Visitors will be able to walk an exact reproduction of the Titanic's famed Grand Staircase; see reproductions of the original Titanic's Marconi Wireless Room; see a first class suite and a third class cabin.

The self-guided tour of the Titanic Museum Attraction is an interactive experience, with guests receiving a boarding pass bearing the name of a person or crewmember that sailed on the original voyage and at the end of the tour guests find out if the person survived. A few of the interactive exhibits include working a ships wheel & learning to send an SOS signal with Marconi wireless.

This museum is the second of its kind built in the United States. The first Titanic Museum
Attraction was built in Branson.

The Smoky Mountain Theater has reopened in 2009 with an all new show. The Temptations Revue: A Tribute Featuring Nate Evans is a Motown-centric gem featuring favorites like "Ain't Too Proud Too Beg," "My Girl," and "Get Ready."