When the day’s business sessions are over, attendees meeting in Gatlinburg, Tenn., can unwind by ambling down The Parkway—also known as U.S. 441—the city’s carnival midway-like main drag, snacking on fudge and funnel cakes.
The attractions here are many, including the Space Needle, the Hollywood Stars Car Museum, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure, Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, Ripley’s Super Fun Zone, Ripley’s Moving Theater, Davy Crockett Mini-Golf, Hillbilly Golf, a brewpub, a wine bar, the world’s only Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum, the earth’s biggest assembly of pancake houses, and hundreds of shop windows beckoning visitors with inexpensive souvenirs and high-quality handicrafts.
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, a short walk from the Gatlinburg Convention Center, is worthy of at least a couple hours of an attendee’s time. One of the country’s best small aquariums, the fish tank’s 10,000 sea creatures include 12-foot great white and hammerhead sharks; 400-pound groupers; stingrays; a coral reef with angel fish, blue tangs and a moray eel; and the Kids Discovery Center’s Touch-A-Ray Tank. The 345-foot underwater tunnel is the next best thing to scuba diving.
Groups can reserve the entire aquarium or have receptions and meals in its 100-seat dining room, which boasts a large window overlooking the shark tank. Behind-the-scenes group tours can also be arranged.
Group members looking for high-quality crafts can walk across The Parkway to the Arrowcraft Shop, a fun spot filled with beautiful traditional and contemporary jewelry, pottery, paintings, weavings, woodwork, glasswork, and metalwork.
If Arrowcraft whets your attendees’ shopping appetite, they can board the Gatlinburg Trolley at the aquarium and ride out to the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community, an eight-mile loop where 100 artisans offer a variety of handmade items, such as candles, baskets, quilts, brooms, pottery, jewelry, dolls, ceramics, leather, stained glass, scrimshaw, and watercolors.
For one 50-cent fare, they can stop off, shop, get back on as often as they like, and still make it back to town in time for their afternoon sessions.
Some Gatlinburg restaurants and hotels feature nighttime entertainment, but ambling The Parkway, with funnel cakes and fudge in hand, is the most popular after-dark activity.
