BBQ Festivals in May

It’s officially the season of hot apple cider, warm blankets, and pumpkin patches. It’s also the season for fall festivals, and the Smoky Mountain area is full of them!

Here are three festivals you can enjoy while on your Smoky Mountain vacation.

1. Dollywood Harvest Festival

If you love Dollywood and the fall season then you won’t want to miss this event! From early September to late October this annual celebration marks the best weather and some beautiful fall foliage in the Smokies. Stay late into the evening to see beautifully carved pumpkins, lit up and on display. During the day you’ll enjoy fall themed food, and colorful leaves all throughout the park.

2. Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair

In early to mid October the Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair heads into full swing. Artisans from across the country gather to peddle their wares while musicians serenade the crowds. You’ll see everything from woodworking and pottery to handcrafted jewelry and leatherworkings. If you have an appreciation for handmade goods then this event is for you.

3. Wears Valley Fall Festival

The Wears Valley Fall Festival takes place in mid October and is a favorite event for locals. Come experience the hundreds of vendors, melodic live music, and incredible Southern cuisine. If you’re interested in a true rustic, Appalachian festival with plenty to do and see for the whole family, then this one is for you.

No matter the festival you choose you’ll need a place to stay. Choose from one of our many options at Bear Camp Cabin Rentals today!

One more month of Spring to go before the Summer season starts. Every season in the Smokies comes with its own set of natural wonders, pleasures, colors and a certain "spirit" in the events. For Spring, we celebrate nature's reawakening with the newly minted emerald green of the mountains, the bright and pastels of the many gorgeous flowers that bloom from one end of the Tennessee hills to the other, the sublimely relaxing wind bursts, rains and 70-degree temperatures, and special events unlike any we have throughout the year. This Spring saw us celebrate quilts, ethnic festivities, recycling, military-style marching, celebrity musicians at Dollywood, hot rods and many more events across the cities and communities of Sevier County.

As far as festivities go, Spring is our most eclectic series, but the best is yet to come: we have not one, but TWO festivals coming to our area in May called "BBQ and Bluegrass" with minimal semantic difference in the titles. The small difference in event names is the only quirk, though, because both the "Bloomin' BBQ and Bluegrass" and Dollywood's "Barbeque and Bluegrass" events are extremely awesome events to attend, worth venturing hundreds of miles for, in fact! The amount of meat and music we get to enjoy this month is staggering and we'd like to invite you to be part of it!

The Bloomin' BBQ and Bluegrass Festival

When: May 18th to May 19th

Where: Sevierville Courthouse

This is the only time of the year where there's a special event around the famous Sevierville Courthouse section of downtown Sevierville. Have you ever been to a courthouse where they had a huge stage erected to play a marathon of live bluegrass music and serve mountains of the best BBQ meat served by award-winning professionals? It's the most fun you can have at the courthouse without being hauled off by the bailiff! There will also be a lot of tables and areas set up for additional family fun and arts and crafts vendors up and down the nearby streets as well. BBQ artists can sign up to compete for the best BBQ at the event and vocalists can sign up for the Mountain Soul Vocal Competition. See more at

Dollywood's Barbeque & Bluegrass

When: May 25th to June 10th

Where: Dollywood, naturally.

You're already familiar with all the awesome rides and attractions Dollywood features on a regular basis, right? Well, now imagine it serving the best BBQ chicken, ribs and pork you can find from late May to almost mid-June with almost round-the-clock performances by the best musicians in Bluegrass today at the best theme park in the South. It's like you'd died and gone to Appalachian Heaven without all the inconvenience of shuffling off the mortal coil. Artists being showcased at Dollywood's Barbeque & Bluegrass include Blue Highway, Flatt Lonesome, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, Mountain Faith, Fireside Collective, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, NewTown, Rhonda Vincent and The Rage, Phil Leadbetter and The All-Stars of Bluegrass and man more!

Both events are extremely easy to get to from practically all of our cabins on our program. Get the best end of Spring blowout with our festival feasts and a cabin from Bear Camp Cabin Rentals! See our cabins at FIND A CABIN