Winter in the Smoky Mountains presents a vibrant celebration filled with light, music, and holiday cheer. The adjacent towns of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville embrace the season with their own unique winter festivals, spanning from November into February. Pigeon Forge and Sevierville call this festive celebration Winterfest, while Gatlinburg calls it Winter Magic, and they all offer a dazzling array of events and displays for visitors to enjoy.
For the towns, the winter festival season kicks off around Veteran’s Day in November, while anytime from the start of November is fair game for the local attractions to begin their seasonal programs, with theaters offering their holiday shows of music, comedy, magic and drama.
Lights
Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and Skyland Ranch in Sevierville offer spectacular light displays featuring lights in the millions, while the entertainment complex of The Island adds several million more lights to the mix, along with its seasonal activities.
Above the towns, the mountaintop attractions of Gatlinburg SkyPark, Anakeesta and the ski resort of Ober Mountain offer their own entertainments and events, as well as more light displays, to complement the spectacular views below.
Meanwhile Shadrack’s Christmas Winterland in Sevierville offers a unique drive-through experience, with synchronized lights illuminating the park to the rhythm of holiday tunes that can be heard through your car’s radio.
As the three towns open their seasons with a festive lighting celebrations, tens of millions of holiday lights go on, adorning buildings, trees, and the streets of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, which extends the holiday greeting with lights stretching all the way to Interstate 40, welcoming visitors to the area.
Many of these displays feature LED lights, which create a crisp, clear glow that enhances the animated scenes. The displays feature a variety of themes, from snowflakes and liberty bells to holiday greetings and European villages, with Christmas scenes and bright, colorful lights creating an unforgettable spectacle. Watch the lights in action with this video from Gatlinburg:
For a detailed guide to where to see the multiple millions of lights throughout the area, be sure to check out our Christmas Lights in Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge guide. Also see our guide to Self-Driving Tours of the lights.
Action
With a packed schedule of events, shows, and celebrations, Pigeon Forge celebrates with its many dinner theaters and shows performing their special programs, and the winter season at Dollywood includes nightly parades, fireworks, animated characters, and a variety of live performances, as well as its light displays of course.
The town of Pigeon Forge marks the beginning of its Winterfest with lively events at Patriot Park, including the Christmas Village, with artisan booths featuring seasonal gift items and foods. Explore the Wonders of Light Walking Trail to enjoy the festive season and the light displays along the town’s wonderful Riverwalk Greenway.
Gatlinburg opens its Winter Magic season with its popular Chili Cook-off on the Parkway, a rare occasion when the street is closed to traffic for the ultimate holiday party. And around mid-month, the annual Bluegrass Christmas in the Smokies Music Festival takes off in Gatlinburg to warm everybody up.
With the Winterfest season fully in swing, the major event looming next is Thanksgiving, with many local restaurants and attractions offering meals and entertainments to suit the season. And this holiday usually heralds the beginning of the Snow Tubing season up at Ober Mountain – a hugely popular ride down the slope that takes no skills at all, and usually needs to be booked well ahead of time.
Gatlinburg’s Thanksgiving and Christmas Craft Shows begin for the holiday also, two back-to-back, week-long shows featuring holiday-themed crafts, perfect for early holiday shopping, with the first show in the final week of November and the second in the first week of December.
From Thanksgiving to Christmas, Gatlinburg’s Parkway hosts a festive lineup of strolling carolers, storytellers, and costumed characters as part of the Tunes & Tales program. This street theater and entertainment, a favorite summer attraction, now takes on a Christmas twist, with performers in Dickensian attire and carolers filling the streets with holiday music.
Gatlinburg’s Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade happens in early December, a big event with illuminated floats, festive music, and plenty of holiday cheer. And sometime during December, Ober Mountain starts to open the ski slopes for the season.
On New Year’s Eve, Gatlinburg hosts a spectacular fireworks display at the Space Needle. With live music filling the air, the countdown begins toward midnight, and the Ball Drop and Fireworks Show begins, a pyrotechnic display called the Best in the South. Over in Pigeon Forge, The Island puts on its own fireworks show with live music and celebration.
Cabin Discounts & Specials
With activities happening throughout the winter, January is a great time for some to visit the Smokies. Winters are scenic and snowy, but accessibility is largely unhindered, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open all year round. The weather in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge is mild by mountain-region standards, and the lack of crowds opens up a quieter time for many.
In this shoulder season time for hospitality, money-saving specials often arise, great deals on booking a cabin getaway – always stay tuned to the Cabin Specials page for details.
February brings Valentine’s Day, adding extra romance to winter coziness of the Smoky Mountains. The cabin is snug and rocking, the hot tub is warm while the mountains are snow-capped, and this picturesque setting is perfect for proposals. Gatlinburg, in fact, ranks as the third most popular wedding destination in the world.
With love in air, and marriage on people’s minds, suddenly it starts to feel as if the season might be changing soon, with spring right around the corner. But that’s another story.
