Winterfest Smoky Mountains Christmas Lights
Winterfest has become a big thing for the Tennessee Smoky Mountains. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville all decked in lights along city streets and many businesses as well.
Each year my wife and I take our grandchildren off the beaten path that so many tourist see to the King home. Just off Hwy416, about 5 miles from the Sevierville city limits, sits a the spectacular display of lights and animated characters. Christmas mouses hard at work preparing their Christmas meal and elves working to ready toys for good boys and girls. So much more adorns the front of the King’s home. My wife and I have always felt this home’s decorations top those of the three cities.
This year we added a new venture to our Christmas lights search. About one mile from downtown Pigeon Forge on Sugar Hollow Road, between Cracker Barrel and Wood Fire Grill, we discovered a fantastic Christmas display of animated lights.
The private residence of Nick Miller, an 18 year old, his mother Kay and stepfather John Pittman is adorned with a fabulous Christmas spirit. You enter their drive and pass under lit arches slowly passing various dazzling light displays until you reach the front of their home. At the very front stands a magnificent forest of light animated trees. Nick Miller spent days programming and honing the lights to favorite Christmas tunes. The yard is filled with about 100,000 lights set in a Christmas magical wonderland that young and old can’t help but fill the spirit of Christmas. What devotion these three gave in such a wondrous gift, and free for the public to enjoy.
Equally impresive is the mass front glass windows of the Pittman/Miller home. You peer into a home filled throughout with Christmas adornment of great proportions that steals your breath. The grandchildren just loved their home, my wife and I went further in recognizing the vast expense, skill, and hard work they excersized in this majestic Christmas display. We far recognize they have beaten their neighboring cities in building a “Christmas Wonderland.” We eventually had to leave, so we slowly departed down the drive passing the twinkle of many more smaller light displays. What a memory we all enjoyed, we hope this wonderful display will be an annual event.
Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville would do good to observe these two treasured displays. When I see what great achievement two private families can do with only their personal funds, I can only imagine what could transpire if the three cities joined hands in the spirit of Christmas. Imagine the three cities working together and using Patriot Park to build a Christmas Wonderland of magical lights and animation. What a glorious show of Christmas spirit they could achieve. The Tennessee Smoky Mountains could earn the title “The South’s Winterfest Winter Wonderland Destination”, sure to win rave reviews and attendance for all three cities. Well, there is always hope.
18 And Counting Makes 20
The mother of TLC’s “18 And Counting”, Mrs. Duggar, is expecting her 19th child. One of their daughters has just had her baby. So it looks like Pigeon Forge Tennessee will have even more reason to celebrate families when the Winterfest light switch is flipped by the Duggar family November 5th at Patriot Park.
