Berry Springs Lodge

Smoky Mountain Harvest Festival

September 6, 2019 - November 22, 2019

The City of Gatlinburg is expanding Smoky Mountain Harvest Festival beginning September 6 through November 22, 2019. The extension of Harvest Festival offers visitors more time to plan a trip to the Smokies during the peak of the fall season.

Gatlinburg is rolling out all the stops with seasonal decorations. Gatlinburg Harvest Festival will feature over the top fall decorations including new life-size, 3-dimensional Scarecrow people. Likewise, Gatlinburg Winter Magic will feature new decorations including very merry, life-sized Snow people that capture the magic of the season.

Looking for a special event or festival? Gatlinburg is the place to be. Whether you’re looking for arts and crafts shows, special concerts, food festivals, or holiday parades, Gatlinburg hosts a wide range of events in every season. Come join us for exciting celebrations throughout the year!

Oktoberfest at Ober

September 27, 2019 - November 3, 2019

Location:  Ober Gatlinburg

Ober Gatlinburg is celebrating October with a fantastic festival featuring Bavarian-style food, drink and music, but you don’t have to don your finest lederhosen or dirndls to be a part of the fun.

OktOBERfest returns to its Gatlinburg-style roots with 38 days of merrymaking as the resort commemorates the 209th anniversary of the popular festival held in Munich, Germany.

The Bavarian Fun Makers Band, in authentic costumes, will perform traditional Bavarian folk dances, schuhplattling, oompah music, sing-a-longs, yodels and more with daily shows and multiple performances every day during Oktoberfest.  Special Oktoberfest Biers will be served along with traditional German wurst, schnitzel, sauerkraut, strudel, pretzels and more.

For more information on OktOBERfest call 865-436-5423 or visit their website.

Autumn Color in the Smokies

October 1, 2019 - November 16, 2019

Autumn in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a special time when a glorious leaf season of several weeks is enjoyed by visitors as fall colors travel down the mountainsides from the highest elevations to the foothills. The kaleidoscope of fall colors in the Smoky Mountains is magnificent and varied because of the amazing diversity of trees. Some 100 species of native trees live in the Smokies, the vast majority of which are deciduous. The timing of fall color change depends upon so many variables that the exact dates of “peak” season are impossible to predict in advance.

In the Smoky Mountains, autumn color displays above 4,000 feet start as early as mid-September with the turning of yellow birch, American beech, mountain maple, hobblebush, and pin cherry, clearly visible from such vantage points as Clingmans Dome Road.

The fall color display usually reaches peak at middle and lower elevations between mid-October and early November. This is the park’s most spectacular display as it includes such colorful trees as sugar maple, scarlet oak, sweetgum, red maple, and the hickories.

Because the Great Smoky Mountains provide a range of elevations between 875 and 6,643 feet in the Park with differing moisture conditions and habitats, many trees will still produce significant color as the Park moves into its peak autumn season. Recommendations: High elevation trails such as Sugarland Mountain Trail and Appalachian Trail, accessed at Clingmans Dome or Newfound Gap, would be good hikes for this time of year. Also, roads leading into the high country, including Newfound Gap Road, Heintooga Ridge Road, Foothills Parkway West and East, and Rich Mountain Road out of Cades Cove, are the best options for seeing fall colors in the Smoky Mountains.

By mid-October at the lower elevations, fall color is nudging along. It is the sunny days and cooler nights that instigate the biochemical processes in the leaf to begin. The Park continues to experience very dry and warmer-than-normal conditions. These conditions will affect the timing, duration, and intensity of fall leaf season. The peak of color at the lower elevations is over a week away. In the valleys, black gum, dogwood, sumac, and sourwood trees continue to show vivid reds. Golds are coming along on tulip tree, black walnut, birch, beech, and hickories. A few scattered maples and oaks are showing the first signs of fall colors in lower regions of the Smoky Mountains.

Late October begins to fade away up top, autumn colors at mid elevations, from 3,000-5,000 feet, are at or slightly past peak and are very impressive. Reds are more pronounced now than in recent years, especially on the North Carolina side of the park. Colors at the very highest elevations (above 5,500) are now past peak.

At the lower elevations of the Smoky Mountains, fall colors are quickly developing. The first frost of the season occurred this week in the low elevations, so the remaining leaves should begin to change color within a few days. Black gum, dogwood, sumacs, and sourwood trees continue to show vivid reds. Golds are present on tuliptree, black walnut, birch, beech, spicebush, and hickories. The peak of color at the lower elevations is still a few days away and will probably spill over into November.

It is not unusual for some autumn color to last through certainly the first week of November in the Smoky Mountains, but if weather cooperates autumn displays could last through mid-November as well.

Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair

October 10, 2019 - October 27, 2019

Gatlinburg Convention Center   Phone(865) 436-7479

Visit Website

The celebration of fall also encompasses one of the southeast’s most popular events… the Annual Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair. From October 10 through 27, the Gatlinburg Convention Center blossoms into a multi-level mecca of the top craft people from all across the United States.

Autumn’s brisk air signals all of nature to transform the Great Smoky Mountains from lush green to a majestic patchwork quilt of colors.

A unique characteristic of the Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair is the fact that artisans not only make their art available for viewing and sale, but also demonstrate their special talents and skills during this show, which is recognized as one of the top 20 events in the Southern U.S. by the Southeast Tourism Society.

Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Music shows are scheduled at 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. daily

Entertainment is included in the admission cost. Group rates are available. For more information, call 865-436-7479 or visit website.

Smoky Mountain Harvest Festival Tunes and Tales

October 2, 2019 - October 24, 2019

Visitors are invited meet costumed storytellers, musical ensembles and cloggers portraying Appalachian characters from time periods as far back as the 1800s along the Parkway Friday and Saturday evenings.