Blue Grass Marriage Tips

By Bennie McCann

Every year, with the changing of the seasons, the Smoky Mountains come alive with a host of festivals, fairs and food cook-offs. When you add to that the excitement of skiing, hiking and other Smoky Mountain adventures, you get a special time filled with family fun and romance that leaves you with a warm glow inside.

Smoky Mountain Harvest Festival

The Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community declares itself, “The largest group of individual artisans in North America,” and you can find them at the Smoky Mountain Harvest Festival. Lasting for weeks during September and October, visitors are amazed that practically every town in the Smokies is decked out for fall. Celebrations of all types take place during the festival including concerts, auto shows, rodeos, air shows and, of course, craft fairs.

Artisans and shop owners have handed down their crafts and skills for generations. During the festival, you will find paintings, woodcarvings, quilts, candles, pottery and more than you can imagine in the way of arts and crafts.

As you stroll up and down the streets of each quaint, little town, you’ll be welcomed with a genuine, “Hey!” from local business owners. It’s as if you’ve stepped back in time to a place where traditional craftsmanship has not been forgotten.

The Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair

Hailed as one of the “Top 20 Events in the Southeastern United States” by the Southeastern Tourism Society, the Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair draws expert craftsmen and shoppers every year. The Craftsmen’s Fair is held at the Gatlinburg Convention Center, and has been around for over 30 years. Trying to get a head start on your holiday shopping? Then this is the place for you! There are over 200 booths to explore filled with unique, heirloom-quality items designed and created by master craftsmen. You are bound to find something special for everyone on your list, even those – especially those – who seem to have everything.

Not only will you enjoy the shopping and demonstrations from local craftsmen, but there is also live blue grass and country music to keep you entertained. Wear comfortable shoes and give yourself plenty of time to shop till you drop.

Gatlinburg Chili Cook-off

You will definitely work up an appetite after all that shopping, so make your way to the chili cook-off. Each November, there’s a one-day showdown of more than 20 cooks stirring their pots with one-of-a-kind chili recipes. Beans or no beans? Hamburger or steak? Mild or grab-the-fire-extinguisher smokin’? Whatever your preference, you’ll have a dizzying selection of chili to sample. When you’re finished, cast your vote for the chili you think should receive the People’s Choice Award.

Winterfest In Pigeon Forge

From November to February, Pigeon Forge makes the transition from a mountain resort to a winter wonderland. Over five million lights are on display in the shapes of animals and nativities as well as draping virtually every building in town. Take a ride inside a toasty-warm trolley with someone special as the entire town twinkles before your very eyes. It will quickly put you in the holiday spirit!

A huge selection of Christmas shows in local theaters can also be found, from reenactments of the birth of Christ to Santa and his elves. With special events happening throughout Winterfest, you and your family can enjoy Wilderness Wildlife Week, a variety of storytelling events and more.

With so much to choose from, you’ll find it hard to decide what to do first. Whether you like to shop, eat or just take in the beautiful scenery, it’s all here waiting for you in the Smoky Mountains!

Green Mountain Bluegrass Band recorded by Mike McGill. June ’09 at the Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival, in Cashmere, WA. Dennis Berck: Rhythm Guitar/Vocals; Gary Dunbar: Lead Guitar/Vocals; Chuck “chainsaw” Holloway: 5-String banjo/vocals; Tyler Lynn: Mandolin/vocals, and Chuck Davidshofer: guest bass player. Recorded from the soundboard through a Rodes NT4

Detroit, Michigan (PRWEB) November 9, 2006

The latest edition of American Road Magazine is a sell out. A few copies of the Autumn 2006 issue remain on newsstands, and at various retail outlets, but are almost certain to go fast. This success reflects the quality of American Road Magazine and the loyalty of its readers.

“American Road staff work hard to put out the best magazine possible,” said advertising manager Brian Parker. “This sell-out is great news for us, our readers, and our advertisers.”

The first frosty hints of fall recently found American Road Executive Editor, Thomas Repp. “They fell from an azure sky,” he stated, “and reminded me my toes will soon be turning the same shade.”

Repp confesses in his “Editor’s Rambler” column that he’s got the blues for this issue. “Autumn catches me unawares each year. Out of the blue it comes, and into the blue it sends me.” Yet, the blues flowing through these 68 glossy full-color pages, are nothing but positive. Blue is noble. Blue is true. Blue pulls more emotional duty than any other pigment in the crayon box.

It’s often said that autumn is the best time to travel, especially with falling gas prices. In American Road terms, that means autumn is the best time to be alive. The trees are turning somersaults, and even if those trees drop their colors to leave behind a world turning blue, where’s the harm? Mountains look stupendous pared down to blue essentials. So do hills and dales. All the better to see the wild and the yonder.

This Autumn 2006 issue of American Road is fashioned into one big automotive blue book. A blueprint, if you will, to fend off any imagined fall funk!

The cruise begins with the State of Iowa’s Blue Valley Drive. “Blue Heaven, or, Saving Sergeant Shaffer” explores the auto trail anchored at either end by two all-American military tales—the true-life tragedy of the Five Sullivan Brothers of Waterloo and the saga of the perhaps not-so-fictitious Radar O’Reilly at Ottumwa.

“Kentucky Home” finds its splendor in the grass—Kentucky bluegrass, of course—as photographer Amy C. Elliott guides us along the Bluegrass Parkway. See the cannonball in that wall at Elizabethtown? It’s left from the days when blue battled gray.

In “Blue Moon,” writer Frank Brusca visits with William Least Heat-Moon, author of the watershed American travelogue, “Blue Highways.” We learn why Moon’s highways turned blue in the first place.

Authors Lee and Jane Whiteley examine the “Kansas Blue Line” – the cooler side of Kansas State Route 18 – while “Riding the Ridge” sends us sailing in a cerulean Shangri-La along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

    The issue includes the regular traditions and departments:

        • Friends in the Fast Lane

        • Tunnel Vision

        • Route 66 Kicks

        • One to 101

        • On the Yellowstone Trail – and much, much more!

American Road Magazine can be found at newsstands, major bookstores, and various Wal-Mart stores. It is published quarterly by Mock Turtle Press, and was named in the Top 30 Notable Magazines shortly after debuting in 2003. The Executive Editor of American Road is Thomas Repp. For more information log on to http://www.americanroadmagazine.com today.

# # #