{"id":50361,"date":"2014-06-26T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2014-06-26T07:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=50361"},"modified":"2014-06-26T00:09:10","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T07:09:10","slug":"a-smoky-mountain-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/50361","title":{"rendered":"A Smoky Mountain Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tGatlinburg, Tennessee, may be small (only about 4,000 people at last count), but it attracts over 100,000 spectators each year on July 4. At midnight, nonetheless. Yep, that\u2019s right\u2014Gatlinburg boasts the country&#8217;s \u201cfirst Independence Day parade\u201d each year at 12 midnight since 1976. Many people set up their folding chairs as early as 7 a.m. on July 3 to get a spot for the famous parade.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_50364\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50364\" class=\"wp-image-50364\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gatlinburg3.jpg\" alt=\"Gatlinburg3\" width=\"360\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-50364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo, Gatlinburg.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While you\u2019re in town, don\u2019t miss the River Raft Regatta at noon. The unmanned floatable race allows \u201canything that floats\u201d and starts at the charmingly named \u201cChrist in the Smokies Museum &amp; Gardens.\u201d The day progresses with several free concerts and a spectacular fireworks display at dark.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_50363\" style=\"width: 369px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50363\" class=\"wp-image-50363\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gatlinburg2.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"359\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-50363\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Zereshk via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Or travel just 6 miles north to Pigeon Forge, home of Dolly Parton\u2019s Dollywood, for the annual Pigeon Forge Patriot Festival with food, crafts, and music throughout the day.<\/p>\n<p>Surrounded by the Great Smoky Mountains on three sides, Gatlinburg is the gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in America, which attracts more than 11 million visitors a year to this tiny mountain town. Its Great Smoky Arts &amp; Crafts Community is touted as \u201cthe largest gathering of independent artisans in North America.\u201d If you\u2019re looking for a bang-up time for Independence Day with a generous dose of Appalachian charm, make plans to visit Gatlinburg\u2014and be sure to show up the day before to catch the nation&#8217;s \u201cfirst Independence Day parade.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_50362\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50362\" class=\"wp-image-50362\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Gatlinburg1.jpg\" alt=\"Gatlinburg1\" width=\"360\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-50362\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo, Gatlinburg.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gatlinburg, Tennessee, may be small (only about 4,000 people at last count), but it attracts over 100,000 spectators each year on July 4. At midnight, nonetheless. Yep, that\u2019s right\u2014Gatlinburg boasts the country&#8217;s \u201cfirst Independence Day parade\u201d each year at 12 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/50361\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/50361\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}