Pigeon Forge Rod Run underway, final year for car sales on Parkway
Pigeon Forge Rod Run underway, final year for car sales on Parkway
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (WVLT) – It’s an event that’s grown so popular, city leaders in Pigeon Forge met Thursday with elected officials to update them on plans for this year’s car show.
A change coming in laws later this year will change parts of the event as vendors won’t be able to advertise cars that are for sale on The Parkway.
You can see cars parked on the Parkway with ‘for sale,’ or a simple price.
A new agreement about the public right of way will make this illegal for shows years to come.
“Going forward the new sublease calls for no commercial activity in the state right of way, so you wouldn’t be able to sell a vehicle in the state right of way going forward,” said Eric Brackins, Assistant City Manager.
Pigeon Forge leases the right of way from the state for additional parking at businesses and then subleases the spots to businesses to maintain. The agreement just made with the state of Tennessee limits even more the commercial activity that can take place on these spaces.
“That’s always been in there, that no advertising is allowed in the state right of way, so it just clarifies it in the new sub lease,” said Brackins.
With thousands of people attending the event seeing and selling the cars is a main draw.
Police plan to bring in extra enforcements to try to keep traffic moving and make sure no one is breaking the law.
“Eventually, it just gets to the point where we have too many cars and not enough roads. So, we do have our officers try to monitor traffic and keep traffic flowing as much as best we can. For those not coming here for the car show alternate routes are highly suggested,” said Pigeon Forge Police Chief Richie Catlett.
This chief said both motorists and pedestrians need to obey traffic laws as calls for help increase.
“Probably a normal weekend we would have between 300 to 350 calls, so when you times that by three is what we’re looking at,” he added.
For the city, it’s about messaging about how selling cars on the Parkway will come to an end. For those attending the show at the LeConte Center, it will be up to the car show promoter who puts that show on if cars can be sold there.
“For those who may not go to the events center, we’ll definitely have to communicate that and make them aware of the new laws,” said Brackins.
The chief said those who are walking or riding scooters around town need to pay attention to the moving traffic. Anything on city streets has to be street legal.
