I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge lately. While locals have long joked about the Graceland Wedding Chapel and T-Shirt Shop where the Rev. Elvis will gladly marry you and your sweetheart and then create a beautiful airbrushed keepsake for you to treasure forever, the landscape between I-40 and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park seems to be changing rapidly.
Recent investments by businesses like Wilderness at the Smokies resort in Sevierville and the new Titanic Museum being built in Pigeon Forge are not only changing the attractions East Tennessee has to offer, they are changing the type of visitors our area attracts. During a two-month period in the spring of this year, Wilderness at the Smokies had 80,000 guests and 20 percent of those visitors had never set foot in East Tennessee (that’s 15,000 first-time visitors in 60 days).
As excitement builds around the new Titanic Museum (scheduled to open next spring) and the never-ending expansions to Wilderness at the Smokies (another new attraction will open there around Thanksgiving), I can only ask myself, “What will become of Reverend Elvis and where will I ever find another fine work of airbrush art?” I can rest a little more easily knowing visitors to East Tennessee will have some amazing things to do … even if it doesn’t involve quite so many go-carts.
