Pigeon Forge Wins Big in International Events Awards Program

 PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (Oct. 19, 2011) – Led by two major awards for Wilderness Wildlife Week, the Pigeon Forge (Tenn.) Department of Tourism has claimed nine Pinnacle Awards from the International Festivals and Events Association.

Wilderness Wildlife Week received gold Pinnacle Awards as the best environmental program/event and the best educational program/event in the category for projects with budgets less than $250,000.

The nature-oriented week also won a silver award as the best community outreach program/event.

Four other gold Pinnacle Awards were received for best event photograph and best billboard, both for A Mountain Quiltfest; for best printed piece cover design for the Holiday Winter Pigeon Forge Guide; and for best organizational website for MyPigeonForge.com.

“IFEA Pinnacle Awards are a huge deal. Pigeon Forge was in competition with festivals and events around the world, and everyone should celebrate what the tourism department’s special events staff and the corps of community volunteers have achieved,” said Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism.

The other two awards were a silver Pinnacle in the category of retail video projects for “Cornfields to Condos” that chronicled the history of Pigeon Forge and a bronze for the design of a Wilderness Wildlife Week hat. Pigeon Forge Historian Veta King and the staff of the Pigeon Forge Public Library produced “Cornfields to Condos.”

“Thousands of hours and tons of effort and devotion from the staff and our wonderful volunteers are what make our festivals and special events so successful. I’m especially grateful to the volunteers,” said Butch Helton, manager of the special events office.

Helton noted that the IFEA Pinnacle Awards competition puts Pigeon Forge in the company of events of great size and prominence.

Other winners this year included the 500 Festival in Indianapolis, the Fort Worth Arts Festival, the Portland Rose Festival in Oregon and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses in California.

International contenders included such diverse events as the Ham Pyeong Butterfly Festival in South Korea, the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore, the Edmonton Heritage Festival in Canada and the Beethoven Easter Festival in Poland.

IFEA previously recognized Wilderness Wildlife Week with gold Pinnacle Awards for educational programming in 2001 and 2004 and for environmental programming in 2003. This year’s awards presentation was Oct. 3 in Fort Worth.