Pigeon Forge Event Launches National Park's 75th Year - Group Travel Tours , Group Cruises


Pigeon Forge Event Launches National Park's 75th Year

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Wilderness Wildlife Week is Pigeon Forge, Tennessee’s annual tribute to its neighbor, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the 2009 event has special meaning because it is the first major program marking the park’s 75th anniversary.

Wilderness Wildlife Week, Jan. 10-17, 2009, will be one of many special events in and around the national park that are part of the 75th anniversary celebration. More than nine million people a year visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park, more than any other national park.

The Pigeon Forge event is eight days of seminars, workshops, photography classes, hikes and excursions that relate to the park and other outdoor topics.

Historic re-enactors portraying President Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir and others important to the creation of America’s national parks will be a special part of Wilderness Wildlife Week 2009. This is the 19th year for the event.

More than 100 experts―nature photographers, biologists, raptor rehabilitators, social historians and just plain folks who grew up in the Smokies―donate their time to present daily programs and a range of outdoor activities.

Topics include bears in the Smokies, the elk reintroduction project, the Smokies’ logging history, fire towers in the Smokies, close-up photography, trout fishing and birding by ear. Admission is free to all activities.

“The week is extremely flexible. You can attend one lecture or take one hike, or you can participate day after day,” said organizer Deanna Sorge of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism.

Wilderness Wildlife Week won the Pinnacle Award for Best Environmental Program or Best Educational Program in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005 from the International Festivals & Events Association and has been acknowledged nine times by the Southeast Tourism Society as a Top 20 Event in the Southeast.

Wilderness Wildlife Week information is available at www.MyPigeonForge.com or by calling 800-946-8373. The overall anniversary website is www.greatsmokies75th.com.

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