Beans, cornbread, wine, dine, and art included in Gatlinburg’s Smoky Mountain Spring

Gatlinburg is ready to greet Spring 2014 with two new cultural events. Image by Jeaneane Payne.

GATLINBURG, TN - Gatlinburg rolls out the welcome mat for spring with two new events. The events, Gatlinburg Beans ‘n Cornbread Blast and Wine, Dine and Art Crawl, are dedicated to the art of enjoying the finer things in life and celebrating its Appalachian culinary past. Gatlinburg Smoky Mountain Spring: It’s a Spring Thing features street festivals, live entertainment, and adventures in the great outdoors.

Wine and art lovers will have an opportunity to explore the historic Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community on a private tour of participating galleries during the new event — Wine, Dine and Art Crawl on Friday, April 11, 5:00-9:00PM. Guests will meet the artists while sampling Tennessee wines and enjoying hors d’oeuvres from local restaurants. The evening will wind down with a sit down dinner at one of Gatlinburg’s unique dining establishments: Crystelle Creek, Hogg’s Pub and Grub and The Three Jimmy’s. The tours begin and end at each restaurant and require a reservation.

A perfect pairing for the Wine, Dine and Art Crawl is the Smoky Mountain Wine Fest at Ripley’s Aquarium Plaza on Saturday, April 12, 1:00–6:00PM. Sanctioned by the Tennessee Wineries Association, this highly successful wine festival will feature a dozen wineries from across Tennessee providing samples of their labels along with local chefs preparing food for pairings. Informational demonstrations and seminars will also be held throughout the day.

Gatlinburg Beans ‘n Cornbread Blast presented by Bush Brothers Beans is an event that will celebrate Gatlinburg’s Appalachian culinary past. This new festive, fun-filled event will be held on May 8. This cook off will be complete with foot-stompin’ mountain music, fun and games, and lots of beans and cornbread. Visitors can sample all the different recipes, while supplies last. The street festival takes place on the Parkway right through downtown Gatlinburg from 1:00-8:00PM.

Gatlinburg Smoky Mountain Spring: It’s a Spring Thing! provides ample opportunities to get outdoors. All trout fishermen are invited to participate in the 15th Annual Smoky Mountain Trout Tournament on April 5 and 6. And, The 64th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage kicks off April 15 with more than 150 different programs to explore the flowers, plants and wildlife of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Earth Week Celebration, April 20-27, will give families an opportunity to get outdoors together for a week of fun, educational events designed to raise awareness of easy to adopt green practices and even get hands on at The Spur Clean-up in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Earth Day 5K Run/Walk gives runners a chance to run through downtown Gatlinburg on a Friday night. The pinnacle of the week is the giant Earth Day Celebration on Thursday. Everyone is invited to Mynatt Park for free and fun educational activities, food, games and entertainment.

For a complete list of spring events and purchase event tickets, visit www.gatlinburg.com/events or call (800) 588-1817.

Published March 15, 2014