4th of July Gatlinburg TN parade

If you've ever wondered about the Gatlinburg 4th of July parade, it is shown on July 3rd at midnight (which is technically the 4th!) On the day of the 2nd, the town of Gatlinburg sets up rows and rows of stadium chairs all up and down the main drag of town. By 6pm on the 3rd, people are already staking out chairs even though the parade doesn't start for 6 more hours!

Since we'd never been to one, we decided to go since we were here and had heard so much about it. I couldn't believe how early people were out on the streets waiting! By 10pm, it was several people "deep" on the sidewalks, so we decided to get a spot close to our motel, and chose near Bubba Gump, which if you've ever been to Gatlinburg, you know how crowded that street corner is any day of the week! During the parade they block off all traffic and people are allowed to stand in the intersections along the street also. What a crowd!

We kept thinking, how can a parade last almost 2 hours? Just wait until you see all these pictures! Everyone scurries back to their motels when the parade is over around 2am and what a crowd it is!