|
|
|
|
|
Take our Fall Potpourri Quiz
As we transition from summer to fall, let's see how much you know about this potpourri of autumn-related trivia. Click HERE to take our quiz..
The first person to answer all the following questions correctly will win two guide books... "Exploring the Smokies" and "Smokies Road Guide."
|
|
"Corn from a Jar" author to sign books across the region this fall
Dan Pierce, UNC-Asheville history professor and "Corn from a Jar" author, will sign copies of GSMA's newest book while on a regional tour this fall.
Order your copy now and take it with you to any of the following locations to meet the author and get his autograph:
- Oct. 5 - Highland Books in Brevard, NC
- Oct. 19, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sugarlands Visitor Center, Gatlinburg, TN
- Oct. 24, 7 p.m. - Mountain Heritage Center, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
- Oct. 26, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. - Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Cherokee, NC
- Oct. 26, 3 p.m. - Blue Ridge Books, Waynesville, NC
- Nov. 7, 7 p.m. - John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC
If you know a place Dan and his book would be welcome, let us know via Email.
|
|
Campers: Leave your firewood at home, please
The highly destructive emerald ash-borer beetle has been discovered in the park.
This and other non-native bugs often hitch a ride on firewood, either as eggs, larvae, or adults. The results can be catastrophic!
Either purchase your firewood at the campground or collect dead and down wood on-site. The forest thanks you.
|
|
Watch sorghum being made
Come to the Smokies this fall to watch the delicious magic of sorghum cane being transformed into superb molasses.
The renowned Guenther family will demonstrate this traditional technique next to Cades Cove Visitor Center on four weekends in November. This Smoky Mountain fall tradition has almost vanished, but GSMA and the Guenthers are doing their best to keep it alive.
November 9, 10, 11 (Saturday, Sunday, Veterans Day)
November 15, 16, 17 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
November 22, 23, 24 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
November 29, 30, December 1 (Friday, Saturday & Sunday - Thanksgiving Weekend
Can't make it to the Smokies for the demonstrations? Not a problem. Just give us a call at 888.898.9102, Ext. 226, or order your winter provisions direct from our website HERE.
|
|
Volunteer with GSMA
Volunteers are the heart and soul of any non-profit organization. These special people give of themselves - their time, their energy and often their money - to support a mission they believe in. We believe our organization will benefit greatly by developing a volunteer base dedicated to supporting the GSMA mission to support Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The volunteer development effort officially got underway during the Membership Appreciation Weekend in Townsend earlier this month. Some 30 GSMA members attended an orientation breakfast to learn the details of the program, and more than a few stepped up to get involved.
If you could not attend the breakfast but still want to be involved, we'd love to have you join our effort. We've created a website that outlines the program and includes an application. Check it out HERE and look for updates as we work to build a volunteer ACTion Team, Association's Caring Trustees.
|
|
Official Park Store
Buy Here this Fall to Help the Park!
Oh, yes, we did! We canned the flavors of fall in both our Apple Butter and Pumpkin Butter selections. Thick, spreadable and spicy. Both are guaranteed to liven up your biscuit, top your toast or warm them up and add to your favorite ice cream.
 EVERY AUTUMN COMES THE BEAR.
This lovely book teaches young readers the natural history of wildlife in the fall and follows a black bear as he goes to find a den.
You'll be ready for the cooler temperatures ahead with this Great Smoky Mountains National Park logo fleece, for men in hunter green and dark gray and for women in hunter green and bold black. It's just the thing for crisp afternoon hikes, followed by sitting by the campfire with family and friends.
|
Business Member of the Month
Cupid's Petals
1428 East Parkway
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 888.626.9771
Smoky Mountains 'Florist of Choice!' Cupid's Petals Gatlinburg flower shop delivers fresh flowers, floral arrangements, balloon bouquets, plant baskets, and specialty gift baskets throughout the Sevier County area including Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville & Cosby. Visit them near the Smoky Mountain Arts & Crafts Community for silk flowers, bridal gifts, custom gift baskets, or a personalized wedding flower consultation. A member of Teleflora Network®, Cupid's Petals can have your order delivered world wide.
New Business Members
Crystelle Creek Restaurant & Grill
1654 East Parkway
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 865.430.1551
GSMA Members receive a 10% discount on food
Chocklett Press
2922 Nicholas Avenue
Roanoke VA 24012
tel: 800.533.4146
If you own a business and would like to be included in this newsletter and our website, contact Westy Fletcher at 423.487.3131 or Westy@GSMAssoc.org
GSMA Members Benefit...
GSMA members earn discounts at more than 50 North Carolina and Tennessee businesses. Think about it - 20% off here, $5 off there, and before you know it, your membership dues have paid for themselves. It's our way of saying "Thank You" for your membership! See our complete list of supporting business on our website. |
1/4 Million+ Fans on Facebook!
 It's appropriate that we achieved our quarter-millionth fan during the 60th Anniversary Celebration Sept. 13-15. Our next benchmark: 1/2 MILLION FANS! We get more "Likes" when you help. Share our posts and invite your friends to "Like" us on
If you'd like to receive online newsletters from us, as well as other periodic information, click HERE.
**We never share your address with anyone, and we never send spam.
|
|
|
'An Island in the Sky'
 | | Watch the 'An Island in the Sky' trailer, then make plans to join us for the video's premiere viewing Saturday, Oct. 19, at Sugarlands Visitor Center. |
The Tennessee premier of "An Island in the Sky: Clingmans Dome and the Spruce-fir Forest" is set for Saturday, Oct. 19, in the Sugarlands Visitor Center theater near Gatlinburg, Tenn.
The first in GSMA's Smoky Mountain Explorer Series, "An Island in the Sky" takes viewers on a journey to the "Top of Old Smoky," Clingmans Dome, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains. The 35-minute video features the cinematography of GSMA's own Gary Wilson, who captured astonishing footage of rivers of clouds, sunrises, wildlife, wildflowers and the turn of the seasons atop this island in the sky. GSMA was thrilled to include narration for the video by Bill Landry of "The Heartland Series" fame.
The movie will be shown twice on Oct. 19, first at 1 p.m. and again at 2 p.m., following a 15-minute presentation by the filmmaker that will include time for a brief question-and-answer session.
|
 | |
GSMA Membership Appreciation Weekend 2013
Video by Valerie Polk
|
Annual Membership Weekend
was a huge success!
Thank you again to the more than 290 people who attended our 60th Anniversary Celebration and Membership Appreciation Weekend Sept. 13-15 in Townsend, Tn. We billed the weekend as the "Biggest, Bestest, Funnest" Membership Weekend ever, and it more than lived up to its name.
The participation, energy and excitement shared by all proved once again that Great Smoky Mountains Association, the oldest non-profit operating in support of this national park, will be around for at least another 60 years.
Thank you also to all our in-house staff, partners, program leaders and volunteers for their support during the planning, implementation and post-event activities. We couldn't do it with each of you.
An extra special to Roy and Kathy Wagner for helping us document the weekend through still photos and video. View their Facebook album HERE. We are in the process now of building yet another photo gallery on our Facebook page and have included a weekend collage on our website, so click on both links above to see if you see yourself. For those who could not attend, don't fret. We're planning to do it again next year in North Carolina.
|
'Critters and Cabins' photo hike offered
 | | Put a bear in your lens during the members' photo hike Saturday, Oct. 12. |
Al Harris of Mile Marker Images in Sevierville, TN, will lead a photo hike for GSMA members Saturday, Oct. 12, in Cades Cove. Up to 12 members are invited to seek out seasonal wildlife sprinkled with 19th-century cabins, churches, barns and mills.
"No trip to the Smokies is complete without seeing a black bear," Al said. "We'll take you to the places with the greatest chances of photographing bear, deer, wild turkey, raccoons, woodpeckers, etc."
Folks can check out any of the "critters & cabins" galleries shown HERE.
Hikers will meet at the Orientation Shelter at the entrance of Cades Cove at 9 a.m., where Al will give a bear safety speech before departing promptly at 9:15 a.m. by car pool. Participants should bring a camera with an empty memory card, tripod (optional), telephoto lens (optional), snacks, water, and a sense of adventure. Some beginner equipment will be available to use/share.
GSMA members can participate in the photo hike for $20 each. Reservations are required by 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, and can be made by emailing us at MEMBERSHIP or by calling 865.436.7318, at any of the following extensions: 222, 254 and 325.
|
Fall color season is putting on a show
 | |
GSMA's own Steve Kemp has been watching the leaves change in the Smokies for more than 20 years.
|
It's fall color time in the Great Smoky Mountains! A spell of sunny days and crisp nights is bringing on some attractive early colors. At the higher elevations, American beech, yellow birch, witch-hobble, maples, and several types of berry bushes are showing good color. The bright red berries on American mountain-ash trees are also abundant.
Lower down, several species of trees have started to change. Sycamore, sassafras, witch hazel, walnut, tuliptree, black gum, sourwood, Virginia creeper, sumacs and black walnut are all showing color. Migrating birds are flocking to the dogwoods' red berries. Fall wildflowers are also conspicuous, including jewelweed, asters, goldenrod and white snakeroot.
Good places for a drive include Clingmans Dome Road and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a great time to hike Mt. Le Conte! Upper Deep Creek Trail is also gorgeous this time of year.
The peak of fall colors at the higher elevations is likely a week or more away. At the lower and mid elevations, colors traditionally peak in late October or early November.
|
Old-time jam session and doll making
 | | |
Stop by Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, N.C., for some back porch old-time music. Bring your favorite acoustic instrument and join in the jam or just tote along a chair and watch and listen. From 1-3 p.m. on these fall Saturdays: Oct. 5 and 19, Nov. 2 and 16.
| |
Also at Oconaluftee Visitor Center this fall, on Oct. 12 beginning at 10 a.m., watch local cornhusk doll expert Lori Anderson as she creates works of art from leftover cornhusks.
Lori learned to make cornhusk dolls from Annie Lee Bryson of Cullowhee, N.C., and old-fashioned flowers from David Higgins, a volunteer at the Mountain Farm Museum at Oconaluftee Visitor Center. When she asked why someone wasn't making real-looking wildflowers, he told her, "No one has been able to figure it out yet." That's all she needed to embark on a mission to do just that.
Fall's an exciting and busy time in the national park. Check HERE for a calendar of fall events.
|
Deadline extended to submit designs
 | |
Show us what GSMA Membership means to you.
|
Calling all artists: We've extended the deadline another month to Oct. 31 to submit what could be THE design to be featured on our Members' Only line of merchandise, starting with a new T-shirt.
And we've added a feature - think TREES! In fact, use any of the Smokies' tree species as your inspiration. Maybe it's an old-growth oak or a "gray ghost" hemlock. And don't forget the acronym, abbreviation, slogan or motto to accompany it to best describe our members.
Download the entry form HERE and submit it with your design through Aug. 30, 2013. Submissions must be e-mailed to membership@gsmassoc.org.
GSMA staff members will choose up to 10 designs, which will then be open to full membership voting. The top 3 designs after our membership voting will be narrowed to a single winning design, which will be featured on our first-ever Members' Only t-shirt, as well as on an entire line of products designed to make our members stand out in a crowd.
The winner will receive one of the new shirts, along with a GSMA Lifetime Membership opportunity.
|
Share your spooky Smokies stories
"It was a dark and stormy night. The eerie hoot of an owl could be heard in the distance...."
 | | The Smokies Yukky Book might just provide all the inspiration you need to pen your own spooky story. |
Thanks so much to those of you who have already shared your Smokies Ghost Stories with us. We are enjoying reading them, with all the lights on, of course.
There's still time to get in on the action. In 1,000 words or less, we want to hear your spooky stories: the truth, the made-up truth or anywhere in-between.
We'll select an overall top storyteller to receive a copy of "Mountain Ghost Stories," and post the tale on our website just before Halloween.
The region's storytelling tradition is nearly as old as the mountains themselves, and those who have passed are not soon forgotten, especially if they don't want to be forgotten.
Points will be awarded for fright factor, originality and brevity. Go ahead, scare us. Send your submission to our Membership email today.
|
|
|
|
|
Answers
to Last
Month's
Elk Quiz
|
1. The Shawnee word "wapiti" means: White rump
2. Antlers are grown and shed each year based on: Testosterone
3. Elk are considered ruminants - an animal that: All of the above
4. In GSMNP the elk's main predator is the: Black bear
5. Home ranges for elk in GSMNP are about four square miles for females, and for males: About 8 square miles
6. A yearling bull elk is call a: Spike
 | |
Photo by GSMA's Lisa Duff, along the Heintooga Road
|
7. This parasite is known only in the East, and though it appears harmless in white-tailed deer it can be lethal for elk, causing loss of coordination and paralysis. It starts with larvae that live in land snails. Brainworm 8. A healthy seven or eight year old male can sport a 12-tine "rack"spanning more than four feet and weighing: 60 lbs.
9. When it comes to assuring a better calf survival rate, elk cows "learned" to: Give birth in more secret and secure places10. Of greatest concern today is this disease... similar to "mad cow" disease... but not known to spread to humans:
Looks like we stumped you: No winner this
last month :(
|
| Have Questions? | - For questions about online purchases, click HERE and the Mail Order department will help you.
- For questions about membership, click HERE and Judy or Marti will help you.
- For questions about business membership, click HERE and Westy will help you. |
Online
Publications | - The latest Smokies Guide (the official GSMNP newspaper) is available for viewing,reading and printing. Click HERE.
- The Bear Paw, the GSMA membership bi-annual newsletter, is ready to read and print by clicking HERE.
|
|
|
|
|
|
