DawsonTimes.com

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (February 12, 2009) -- Four-day SaddleUp! festival features cowboy food, music, dance and poetry. Eight of the most unusual vehicles of the year will be in Pigeon Forge Feb. 19-22.  They are authentic Old West chuckwagons in town for a competition cookoff.

The chuckwagon cookoff is part of Saddle Up!, a festival of cowboy poetry, western music and stomach-filling cowboy grub.  The four-day festival is on American Cowboy magazine's list of the "Top 101 Western Events."

Chuckwagon cooks are serious competitors -- fully equipped and authentic chuckwagon can cost in excess of $15,000. Original horse-drawn chuckwagons measured around 10 feet long and just over three feet wide and contained an amazing assortment of goods needed for a long trail drive such as food supplies, cooking utensils, cowboy bed rolls and personal effects.

Saturday's cooking teams will be judged on their wagons, camp set-ups and food (including chicken-fried steak, cornbread, biscuits, beans, cobblers and other dishes).

The teams are members of the American Chuck Wagon Association's Southeast Chapter, and they'll mosey into Pigeon Forge from Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Texas.  Their wagons carry names such as Broken Spoke, Grumpy's Grub, Cow Camp, Ramblin' Rose, Fairplay Cattle Co., Yellow Rose and Little Hard Labored Creek.

The chuckwagon cookoff is Feb. 21 (Saturday) 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Clabough's Campground on Wears Valley Road.  There's no fee to check out the chuckwagon camps and smell the cooking.  After the judges get their samples, lunch will be available for $5; ticket sales begin at 11 a.m., and proceeds benefit Cal Farley's Boys Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

Saddle Up! begins Feb. 19 (Thursday).  Entertainers include musicians Wylie & the Wild West (the 2008 Cowboy/Western Swing Group of the Year), The Quebe Sisters Band, Juni Fisher, Andy Wilkinson and Andy Hedges, along with cowboy poets Paul Zarzyski, Kent Rollins and Jim Hawkins.

A highlight of the four-day weekend is the Cowboy Symphony, featuring Wylie & the Wild West and the Smoky Mountain Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Russell Ramsay. The Cowboy Symphony is Feb. 19 at the Country Tonite Theatre.

Other activities include concerts (both free and ticketed), a non-denominational Cowboy Church service and a western swing dance.   

Concert venues are the Country Tonite Theatre (1,500 seats), the Grand Majestic Theater (1,000 seats) and the Tennessee Shindig Theater (1,150 seats). The dance will be at Music Road Convention Center, and Cowboy Church will be at Stages West.

Other chuckwagon demonstrations include breakfast on Feb. 19 (Thursday) and lunches on Feb. 20 (Friday) at the Tennessee Shindig Theater and Feb. 22 (Sunday) at Stages West.

Admission information: The Thursday afternoon concert is $15.  A Friday/Saturday pass, excluding the Cowboy Symphony, is $50. Day passes for either Friday or Saturday are $30. Tickets for Cowboy Symphony are $20. All prices are plus tax. Ages 17 and younger are admitted free. Advance ticket sales are through the Country Tonite Theater at 1-800-792-4308; in-person purchases begin Feb. 19 at the Grand Majestic Theater. Admission to the dance is $5 per person; ages 17 and younger are admitted free. Cowboy Church is free.

The complete festival schedule is online at www.MyPigeonForge.com/saddleup.  Information about all aspects of visiting Pigeon Forge is at www.MyPigeonForge.com or by calling toll-free 1-800-251-9100.