United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón is coming to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a special event at Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Saturday, July 20. 

Thursday, July 4, marks the 34th running of the Firecracker 5K in Bryson City. Created in 1989 to celebrate the town’s centennial, this annual tradition has grown from 30 to 300 runners. 

Swain County will be raising its tax rate for the first time in 11 years in fiscal year 2024-25. Commissioners passed the ordinance in a 3-2 vote with commissioners David Loftis and Kenneth Parton against. 

Over the decades since 52 elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Cataloochee Valley in 2001 and 2002, wildlife biologists have longed for a statistically accurate count of the population in Western North Carolina. 

“There’s some legends and stories about this particular area, this place we’re at right now,” said Tommy Cabe, who is the forest resource specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a member of the Tribe, looking out over the vibrantly green forest floor surrounding a tiny stream that flows across Chimney Tops Trail. 

Haywood County Recreation is hosting a series of hikes throughout June. All hikes are subject to cancelation due to harsh weather. 

On Sunday, May 5, in cooperation with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the North Shore Cemetery Association will decorate the Woody and Hoyle Cemeteries on Forney Creek.  

Great Smokies Mountain National Park has seen new changes in recent years, from soaring record attendance placing it head and shoulders above the field for the most visited national park to a first-of-its-kind parking tag program designed to generate revenue while also protecting visitors and natural resources that has generated the ire of some surrounding communities. 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park received approximately $11 million in funding from the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund to rehabilitate a two-mile section of Newfound Gap Road near Gatlinburg. The rehabilitation project will include single-lane closures. 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s “Signs of Spring” event celebrating National American Sign Language Day will be back for the second year in Cades Cove on Saturday, April 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.