Registration for Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage Programs Opening

Registration for the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is opening soon.

Wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park have lain dormant as the winter’s wet, snowy, and cold weather persists. As the season changes, the warming sun heats the earth, awakening new growth to paint the landscape with a magnificent display of color. Southern migratory birds are arriving. Bring your binoculars. Come join us in the Smokies to experience new life spreading over the mountains.

The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage takes place April 19–23, 2016 and offers one hundred forty-four professionally guided programs to explore the region’s rich wildflowers, birds, wildlife, ecology, culture, and natural history through walks, motorcades, photographic tours, art classes, and indoor seminars.

New this year is the online sale of Pilgrimage T-shirts at a 20% discount. The Pilgrimage’s Artist-of-the-Year, Nelson Ziegler, will be honored at a Wednesday evening reception and exhibit. His spectacular, winning image of Roaring Fork is displayed on the Pilgrimage brochure cover and T‑shirt.

Evening programs focus on the national parks during this year’s National Park Service Centennial. On Wednesday evening in A Celebration of People and their Land, Bill Landry, the voice, host, narrator, and co-producer of The Heartland Series, which has aired on WBIR-TV in Knoxville for nearly thirty years, will present narrative videos of people who have shaped the Smokies. On Thursday evening the audience can compete in a trivia game focused on the Park and similar topics. Prizes will be awarded to teams with the highest scores. Refreshments and a cash bar will be available. Then, on Friday evening Steve Bohleber will dazzle the eyes, Celebrating our National Parks Through Images. Steve is an Indiana attorney and avid nature photographer who has captured the grandeur of national parks from Hawaii to Maine.

Online registration for Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage programs begins February 14, 2016 at 8 a.m. Space is limited. Onsite registration and Pre-Registration packet pickup begins April 19, 2016 at 5 p.m. in the Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg, Tenn.