Travel: There's always something new to do and see in Pigeon Forge

No matter how many times I vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., I never seem to run out of new things to see and do.
My late September getaway certainly was no different because my wife and I¿got to see three new shows as well as three live bears that didn’t mind munching berries 10 feet away from us. Plus, we found a new place where we could munch some speciality goodies, too.
The sports editor in me wasn’t quite sure what to expect at the area’s newest show, “Lumberjack Feud.” I knew it was supposed to feature ESPN-quality athletes who have won various world championships competing in a variety of logging events. I was not ready for the non-stop action that had folks of all ages, including children, roaring their approval from start to finish of the 90-minute competition.
The $10-million attraction is built to resemble the Smokey Mountains landscape, and the show is based on two rival logging families feuding and settling their differences in a variety of logging events.
Rob Scheer, a former world champion, founded the company that started the show here and also has one in Alaska.
“The foundation of our show is that these athletes who are out there competing across the country have a place they can come and train and then while we are training we tell a story about the history of the area and make it fun and entertaining. That’s what we want to do,” said Scheer, 52, after the performance ended.
The show, which opened in early September, is set in the 1930s and tells the history of the logging industry in the Smokey Mountains as well as how the Great Smokey Mountains National Park was created. But the attraction is the lumberjacks and lumberjills who compete in 10 different timber sports ranging from axe-throwing to chopping to sawing to log-rolling to 55-foot tree climbing.
The axe-throw was my favorite, but all the competitions are real. The log-rolling resulted in one lumberjack cutting his hand, wiping off the blood and continuing.
“These guys are tough. Nothing will stop them from competing,” Scheer said.
The Alaska show is open for six months each year and the Pigeon Forge show will be open 10 months each year.
“We have 16 guys and during the main part of the summer they are all working. They work about four days on and two days off. This time of year the guys go to Australia or New Zealand and still get to competitions throughout North America. They are in rotations where they can get two weeks off at a time to chase competitions. We have a stable of athletes and then we rotate through so they can go to competitions and also train here and in Alaska. Three guys in the show tonight have either won world championships or been on TV competing.”
Scheer was the first man to win the title, Ironjack World Champion. He’s a three-time world champion speed climber.
The night we attended the show, he abandoned his role as show producer to compete with three much younger lumberjacks — and more than held his own.
“I¿had so much fun. I quit competing when I was 40 and I¿am 52 now. I went to being a producer with ESPN, so I did all kind of television. Then when I decided to build this in addition to my Alaska show, I decided I¿might as well get in the game again and be in the show,” Scheer said. “It is the most fun I¿have had in several years. Giving up the sport as a world champion was hard, but just coming back as an athlete in the show is wonderful. It is just so nice to compete and let people have a good time.”
He says starting the a second show in Pigeon Forge was an easy decision.
“There are two things here that we really wanted to focus on. One, of course, was the extraordinary amount of tourism that surrounds the Great Smokey Mountains National Park,” Scheer said. “In addition, the park is one of the greatest legacies we have. It involved the logging industry and the nation getting together to create a park. People forget that prior to 1934 there were thousands of people working up in the mountains that were loggers. They built all the roads, all the railroads, the towns. Everything was built on the backs of loggers.
“When the nation decided to turn it into a park, those loggers were all put out of work. We thought what a great foundation for our story. Losing logging was tough but the new economy is amazing. It’s also a non-resource extraction industry. People come and enjoy it and there’s money flowing in the area.”
The dinner included chicken, barbecued ribs, macaroni, baked beans, roll and strawberry desert served by your own lumberjack. The food was all good.
“That’s important because we want you to have a good meal while you enjoy the show,” Scheer said.