New Years Eve Celebrations In the Smokies

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!

Quick riddle - what begins and ends with fireworks in the Smokies? If you confused this for another popular lateral thinking puzzle and said "the letter E", you are most definitely mistaken. The "year" begins and ends with fireworks in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. If there's any better way to celebrate New Year's Eve in East Tennessee, it means we've drifted into a parallel dimension!

Want to know how to transition from one year to the next with a literal bang? Read on!

Gatlinburg:

For years, Gatlinburg's final holiday special event has been the biggest party in the Smoky Mountains - bigger than the Chili Kickoff, bigger than the parades, biggest of all! More than 50,000 people are out and about for the festivities on the 31st of December and they're all waiting for one thing - the countdown and ball drop at the Space Needle in the center of downtown Gatlinburg.

For most of the day, business will be as expected. As it gets to be 10:00 PM, entertainment will begin near Stoplight #8 as it has for years before. For the next two hours, the crowd, excitement, and energy will build steadily until it gets to 11:59 PM. As the families come out of the attractions, as the groups come out of the restaurants and grills, as the revelry gets louder until it drowns out the music playing, the mood reaches its zenith at that same 11:59 PM. Attention turns to the Space Needle where Gatlinburg crews have carefully constructed a ball drop similar to the one made famous by Times Square in New York City.

Right as the clock strikes midnight: BOOM. Many times over.

For 15 minutes at least, the entire tower explodes with the most intensely beautiful fireworks display you've ever seen. It's an experience that stays with you long after it happens - the display itself, the significance of starting a new year literally ablaze and at the height of excitement - even if you only get to see it once. It takes some effort to pull off, but it's worth it many times over.

The only thing that rivals it is Pigeon Forge's New Year Celebration events.

Pigeon Forge:

This year, there are three New Year's Eve special events worth forecasting for visitors to the Smokies for the end of the holiday season - one at The Island, one at the Titanic Museum and one at the Smoky Mountain Opry.

The Titanic Museum throws the earliest New Year's Eve party with their "Noon Year's Eve" event. Starting at 12:00PM that day, as mypigeonforge.com explains, "This rockin’ New Years Noon event will be a kid’s version of a grown-up’s midnight bash, complete with a Titanic Museum Tour, a visit with our own Alice in Wonderland and Mad Hatter character, PLUS a countdown to an exciting Noon Year Balloon Drop.”

Some hours after that at the Smoky Mountain Opry, a spectacular show will begin at 8:00 PM with a (presumably) final performance of "Christmas at The Smoky Mountain Opry". There will be talent, entertainment, set designs, pyrotechnics, laser lighting, comedians, dancing, magicians, ice skaters, aerialists (look it up if you don't know), and more helping send off the new year. The party will continue on from there as there will be a ball drop of its own as it nears midnight and the cast will stay to keep partying the night away!

And finally, The Island will begin their festivities at 10:00 PM.

Much of the day there will already be in a party-centric vibe, but 10:00 PM is when things will shift into 4th gear. There will be live music entertainment, a midnight countdown, lights, water displays from the center fountain and more. At the stroke of 12:00 AM, the old year will close out and begin with the same skyward combustion just like in Gatlinburg a few miles away.

Whether you get your New Year's fireworks from Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, you will never, never, NEVER forget it. It could be one of the top 10 events in your life!