Southeast Tourism Society salutes festival of cowboy poetry, western music, chuckwagon cooking
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (February 2011) – For the third time in the 11-year history of Saddle Up!, Pigeon Forge’s annual salute to the Old West, the festival has been named a Top 20 Event in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.
Independent judges evaluate festivals and special events to identify ones deemed especially worthy of leisure travelers’ attention in the 12-state Southeast Tourism Society region.
Saddle Up!, a hallmark winter entertainment event in Pigeon Forge, closes out the city’s Winterfest celebration by bringing cowboy and cowgirl performers and a variety of cowboy activities to the Great Smoky Mountains destination Feb. 24-27.
The four-day schedule includes three stage shows, a chuckwagon cookoff, a western marketplace, a western swing dance, Cowboy Church and two “intimate evening” dinner shows with Wylie and the Wild West and the Quebe Sisters Band.
Other Top 20 Events in the Southeast for February include the 15th Annual Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration in South Carolina (Feb. 1-28) and the Bayou Lafourche Mardi Gras in Louisiana (Feb. 19-March 8).
“Saddle Up! is special because it is so unusual to get an authentic taste of the West in our part of the country. It’s really fun to let our inner cowboys out every February,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism.
Other accolades for Saddle Up! include being named to American Cowboy Magazine’s list of the “Top 101 Western Events” in the nation.
Visit www.MyPigeonForge.com/saddleup for additional event information and to purchase concert tickets.
