Mar 25
2009

The hills are alive with the sound of music. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host its 4th annual Music of the Mountains festival on March 28. The festival will be held at Sugarlands Visitors Center and will showcase the evolution of mountain music over time.

There are six free concerts that will be held throughout the day. Performers include Tony Thomas, the Lost Mill String Band, Matt Morelock, Brian Vollmer, Bobby Fulcher, Boogertown Gap, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker. The event starts at 10 a.m. at the Sugarlands Visitors Centers Theater. Seating is limited to 160 people per concert and is on a first come, first served basis.

The festival will be followed by a special evening performance by Jimbo Whaley at the W.L. Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg at 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $25. Make sure to hold on to your ticket stub as there will be door prizes and other giveaways during the concert.

Jimbo Whaley is a well know bluegrass and gospel musician and singer from Sevier County. Whaley has played with notable bands such as Pine Mountain Railroad and Greenbrier.

The festival allows visitors to experience the rich traditions of mountain music.

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Feb 24
2009

The Great Smoky Mountains will be getting a new 6,000+ square foot visitors center. The new Oconaluftee Visitor Center will sit adjacent to the exisiting faculity and will include a new visitor building, restrooms, information kiosk as well as redoing the parking lot to make access to and from Newfound Gap Road easier and safe for visitors.

The Great Smoky Mountains Association and the Friends of the Smokies are providing $3 million dollars for it’s construction as well as new maps, exhibits, and other media that educate the estimated 350,000 visitors to the center each year.

The current center will be converted to a multi-purpose center that includes a classroom and will help with community outreach efforts.

The new center is being designed to be as energy efficient as possible and will have several evnironmental friendly features such as geothermal heat and cooling, passive solar, rain water cistern, water saving fixtures, recycled materials and will use native plants as landscaping.

During the late 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corp built the existing structure as both a Ranger’s Station as well as a courtroom for local Magistrates. The current facility has been in need of renovation for many years as the total number of visitors has far exceeded the capacity of both the center and it’s restrooms.

Officials at the National Park have completed the required environmental impact studys and cleared the way for construction to begin at any time.

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