Sevier News Messenger Sevier County News and Opinion
Dear Editor,
Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce Foundation would like to say a very special thank you to everyone who participated in Gatlinburg’s Earth Week Celebration presented by Hilton Garden Inn. This year’s events were extremely successful thanks to the continued partnership with Keep Sevier Beautiful and the more than 30 sponsors and booths from around the state who helped make this Earth Week the standard by which all others will be compared.
14 teams of nearly 90 volunteers came out for The Spur Clean Up where 97 bags of litter were gathered and disposed of. A new initiative to Earth Week this year, Clothing Collection Day, amassed one truckload of children’s clothing, two truckloads of adult clothing and many more pairs of shoes. Earth Day Festival offered 15 educational booths, providing an incomparable learning opportunity for 350 students and teachers from Pi Beta Phi and Pittman Center Elementary. The grand finale for the whole week, Earth Day 5K, saw 169 registrants with runner Matthew Pence taking home the gold medal for the 5th year in a row.
Pi Beta Phi: Kaian Markland – 1st place Art Winner
Pittman Center School: Alexis Valentine – 1st place Art Winner
Pittman Center School: Reese Ownby – 2nd place Art Winner
GPHS Student Art Winners (from left to right): Abby Fortner – 1st place; Winter Starkey – 2nd place; and Rochelle Guenther – 3rd place.
We at the Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau cannot express our level of appreciation enough for all who continue to support Gatlinburg’s week of green-thinking events and activities. We will continue to grow Earth Week in order to better exemplify the conservation efforts taking place in Gatlinburg and throughout many other municipalities across the state.
Sincerely,
Vicki Simms, IOM
Executive Director
Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau
Executive Office, 811 East Parkway Gatlinburg, TN 37738
