Full Details About the Upcoming New Year's Eve Celebration in Gatlinburg

2024 will be coming to an end, and Gatlinburg will be celebrating in traditional style with its New Year’s Celebration. Since its beginning in 1987, the “Best New Year’s Eve Show in the South” lives up to the name by throwing one of the largest of its kind in the nation. With a drone show now an added feature of the party atmosphere on the Parkway, this night will continue to amaze and entertain the tens of thousands in attendance. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for the 2024/2025 jubilee in Gatlinburg.

The minutes and hours before both hands of the clock are fully raised can hardly be described as a pre-game show, as there will be live entertainment starting at 10 P.M. Emerging country star Drew Baldridge is the featured musical production, performing across the street from the Space Needle at the Shade Tree Parking lot outside the Gatlinburg Convention Center.

Drew Baldridge, 32, has taken a long path toward stardom, starting his own label a few years ago, earning credibility in the independent scene by charting his own path in the music industry. His recent success has him on a fast track that’s given him recognition as a force to be reckoned with. He’s had a few singles that have garnered moderate to hit success. His latest one, “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” has gone viral on social media and charted in the Top 10 on the Billboard Country Music Chart. He’s also toured with some of the biggest names in country music, including Eric Church, Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan, along with other familiar names whom you’ve recognized on radio for years.

At ten minutes to midnight, you will see an illuminating, twinkling, and creative drone show, showing images that represent this proud area and the momentous occasion unfolding before your eyes. It’s like an epic opening to a song that eventually leads to the payoff of the chorus, which on this evening, will be the ball reaching the bottom of the 407-foot-tall Space Needle and the finality of the fireworks at midnight.

Likewise with any previous year’s celebration, guests are encouraged to arrive early, in order to secure parking and the best spot to view the excitement of the calendar flipping to 2025. The event is of course free to the public. Hotels will likely be fully booked and may be already, so keep that in mind, and also in terms of rates, which will be much higher.

Last year was fun, and I hope to be somewhere in one of the large groups of people here for New Year’s Eve. I will undoubtedly be giving you a full review of how my personal second go-round went with this annual celebration. I hope to see some of you around Gatlinburg in the future, even if this particular event isn’t your thing. If it is, please be safe, responsible, and most importantly, have plenty of fun! Thank you for reading, and I’ll keep you informed of all things Gatlinburg, as always!