Lifestyle

Winners for the Sevier County 4-H Essay Contest for 2017 have been named in five award categories, out of more than 2,900 essays entered. This year, students wrote informative essays on the theme of Litter Reduction and Recycling. Keep Sevier Beautiful sponsors the contest annually and provides ribbons for all participants, along with cash awards as listed below. Overall, Sevier ...

What began as the Smokies Strong—A Bluegrass Celebration has prompted a donation of more than $128,000 to the Dollywood Foundation Wildfire Scholarship Fund. Officials representing the various donors as well as those from the Dollywood Foundation were on hand Thursday, April 13, 2017 at the Pigeon Forge Hospitality and Tourism Association meeting at the Mainstay Suites Conference Center. Following the ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is hosting a volunteer workday at the Mountain Farm Museum on Tuesday April 25, 2017. The park received a $5,000 grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area to create a modified style of fence to help protect the gardens from elk that inhabit the area regularly. “Since the elk have returned, the corn field ...

Gardening is one of the top leisure activities enjoyed by Tennesseans of all ages, and straw bale gardening is gaining favor with seasoned and novice gardeners alike. Alan Windham, a professor of plant pathology with the University of Tennessee Extension, compares straw bale gardening to gardening in containers—minus the container. Flowers, vegetables and herbs can be grown in straw bales. ...

What do you get when you give young people the opportunity to develop their photography and baking skills? You get over 200 4-H members participating in the annual County 4-H Baking and Photography Contest. 4-H PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST WINNERS Regina Starkey, a local professional photographer of Honeysuckle Hills, judged the photography contest. Pigeon Forge Rotary Club sponsored award ribbons and plaques. ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate Junior Ranger Day on Saturday, April 22, 2017 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with special activities at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, Cades Cove Visitor Center, and Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Kids of all ages are invited to come learn how to “explore, learn, and protect” their national park and become an official Junior ...

Twenty-three Sevier County 4-H members have been recognized this past year for their volunteer efforts with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. The Presidents Council on Service and Civic Participation created the Volunteer Service Award Program to recognize Americans who have made a commitment to volunteer service. Sevier County 4-H is proud to partner with the Presidents Council to present these ...

Backyard biosecurity means doing everything you can to protect your birds from disease including Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). As a bird owner, keeping your birds healthy is a top priority. Your birds can become sick or die from exposure to just a few unseen bacteria, viruses or parasites. In a single day, these germs can multiply and infect all ...

Howard Kingsbury started playing golf as a teenager when he and some friends would clear rocks on an Ohio course in exchange for being able to play. He has remained a golfer over the past four decades or so, and while he doesn’t play as much as he might like, he always makes time to participate in a golf fundraiser ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials will reopen the Whiteoak Sink area with limited access effective April 1 through May 15, 2017 to limit human disturbance in critical bat habitat and help hikers avoid interactions with bats. Park biologists will continue monitoring bat populations near the site as they emerge from winter hibernacula to collect population, ecological, and behavioral data ...