Chasing Adventure

What better way to celebrate a fall birthday than to enjoy a pumpkin festival!

For Greg’s birthday this year, we decided to enjoy the day at Dollywood where they had a huge pumpkin festival happening – Great Pumpkin Luminights.

We enjoyed hot apple cider, funnel cakes, bluegrass music, and all the intricate pumpkin displays.

We went on some of the rides, and were shocked at how much the park has expanded and the size/drop of some of the new roller coasters. I’m not a roller coaster person, but we watched as people screamed through the drop on the newest coaster! After we walked through and saw all the displays, an employee mentioned how they are all lit up at night. We definitely wanted to see them all lit up and were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it all was, like we were seeing completely different displays.

In our wanderings, we found that one of the visiting musical acts was called Run Katie Run, so we had to stop and listen. They were so good, we came back for the second set! It was a fusion of country, rock, and something else. I have since downloaded all their music on my Spotify account and still enjoy listening to them. We did take the opportunity to meet them afterwards and they are all so down to earth and sweet. I hope we get the chance to see them live again one day soon!

We discovered that bluegrass music players gather in this one area everyday and just pick. It’s a very informal setting, but still very entertaining. Just across the way was the Porch Sitters Union, and we just had to join! On our way out, we saw the pumpkins people brought in from their own farms and the size of these pumpkins are something I’m sure Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother used for the carriage – over 2,000 pounds!

Overall, it was such a fun day out and we highly recommend this festival to anyone who is in the area!

~Katie