Smokies Blog

What’s that? Is the Shades of the Past Rod Run that happens this weekend not enough to contain your classic car experience? That’s okay, but the week after, we have the Grand Fall Rod Run in town! Taking place on September 16th through the 19th, The Grand Fall Rod Run has what you need to calm that urge for a good while.  Car enthusiasts, vendors, traders and more will be among the crowd, with prizes given away to the top 25 cars and for the “ultimate 5 cars”. Some of the custom jobs brought to this rod run are amazing and well worth scoping out!

As with Shades of the Past, classic cars will be all around town and lining the parkway, but most especially at the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center. Check it out!

There’s always something fantastic going on over at the Old Mill. This is doubly so in September, as their annual Heritage Day event enters its Seventh year! Heritage Day is an event in The Old Mill Square on September 25 that promises to be a day fill with music, games, food, fun, crafts and demonstrations of Appalachian Culture. That certainly sounds like a good ol’ Smokies day. It also sounds like fun! There’s many scheduled events during the day, including guided tours of the Old Mill, food and entertainment, antique cars and farm equipment, games for the kids and more.

If you’ve never been to the Old Mill area and want an excuse, this is the day to do so. You can learn all about it on the Old Mill Square’s website set up for the occasion. So go on! Get a little Heritage!

It’s almost time for the big rod runs of the summer again, with Shades of the Past on September 10th and 11th! This classic (And we do mean classic) rod run is one of the more popular annual events here in the Smokies with good reason. A celebration of past design and ingenuity, people come from all over the country just to show off their retro-wheels! You could probably get in town and not be able to turn around without seeing a plethora of cars, but the main show will be taking place at Dolly’s Splash Country’s parking lot. For those that have attended previous years, this means less dust, mud and panicky owners trying to keep their car clean. Huzzah!

The Shades of the Past website have a lot more details on the subject. Spectator entry into the main area is $10, where you can view and a amazing amount of cars, chat with their owners and more. If you’re wanting to register your own vehicle, registration is $50 and will also be available on site. Prizes this year include $10,000 and a ’32 HiBoy Roadster, so it certainly can’t hurt to show off your chops (Assuming you have them, anyway. I know I don’t. I highly doubt anyone would consider my car “classic”. Ghastly, maybe!)

When the winners are announced this year, we’ll update again with the winning cars. Until then, happy viewings!