Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (WATE) — Following the most recent Pigeon Forge Rod Run this past weekend, a petition to boycott future events is circulating on social media.
Full disclosure: the Pigeon Forge Rod Run, which took place in the LeConte Center, is not the same as the hot rods lining up along the Parkway.
However, many people, including the petition’s originator, consider it all the “rod run shows,” because the cars by the side of the road have been coming to town on the same weekends as the rod runs for about as long as the official show has existed in Pigeon Forge.
That is even according to Pigeon Forge Mayor David Wear.
He stated that folks have been parking their antique vehicles and posting on the sidewalk with lawn chairs for as long as he can recall.
“Those people have been coming since I was a child. Those chairs were present when I first drove through or visited a car show. “Those people were waiting out there to view the old vehicles and the cars they adore,” Wear explained.
Journee Clouse, the Sevier County citizen who started the petition to cancel rod run shows in general, said the event has changed.
Clouse stated she used to appreciate them as a teenager. However, as an employee at The Island, she claims they are very different.
“Overall, I believe the rod runs have become a really bad event in Sevier County,” Clouse stated.
On Friday night, a confrontation at a gas station resulted in gunshots, although no one was injured.
Clouse stated that this past weekend, the streets were packed with guys catcalling women, including herself, and then behaved belligerently when she did not reply.
“Just driving down the road, you know, I was black-smoked, and they revved their engines like deafening loud,” Clouse explained.
Emily Duncan, a Sevier County native, was also harassed on the sidewalks this weekend while with her 14-year-old sister.
Duncan stated that she and her family have been attending rod run shows for the past seven years, and this was the worst she had seen people behave.
“Not even ten minutes into sitting in traffic, I was approached to flash a group of males,” Duncan explained.
She said that had never occurred to her before during the rod runs, so she attributed it to that particular group of guys.
“Unfortunately, by the time we were on the other side of the road, headed back toward the Sevierville area, I had been catcalled and sexually harassed at least 20 times by groups of mature males,” Duncan explained.
Duncan claimed her 14-year-old sister was also catcalled several times, particularly by a group of men brandishing a placard with offensive statements.
Even Pigeon Forge Police Chief Richard Catlett said this was one of the worst weekends he’d seen for the car show in town, while the amount of citations was roughly the same as in previous years.
He stated that they always have problems with alcohol, which leads to arguments. This time, a fight turned into gunshots.
“The show itself isn’t the main issue. We have had relatively few problems with the event at the LeConte Events Center. The followers do not attend the show. “The people who come here to drink and party,” Catlett explained.
“Unfortunately, it often takes a specific group to spoil it for everyone else. We’ve been hosting car events since the late 1970s, but the behavior of some has prompted us, as a city, to take them seriously,” Catlett continued.
Clouse’s petition seeks exactly this outcome.
Mayor Wear agreed that the city needed to talk about what it can and cannot accomplish. On the same note as Chief Catlett, he stated that the real issue is not the car aficionados themselves.
Wear stated that he wanted to make sure there was a clear distinction.
Even though classic vehicles and hot rods are not part of the LeConte Center event, Wear claims that automobile aficionados are not the problem.
The only problem, he continued, is that they take up parking spaces that businesses may require. That, and more traffic–but he claims the traffic is no different than it is during peak season in Pigeon Forge. He claimed that those that attend parties are the ones who cause problems.
“The folks who come are not interested in cars. They come because there’s a throng, or because they have a free or simple day trip up here where there are a lot of people and they can cruise,” Wear explained.
Chief Catlett speculated that the trucks that arrived from the diesel show in Sevierville, which was taking place at the same time, could have contributed to the problem this weekend.
Wear stated that attempting to cancel all of the activities could cause a few issues.
First and foremost, the state controls the Parkway, its sidewalks, and the first row of parking spaces.
Wear stated that while Pigeon Forge police can arrest anyone in such areas for disobeying the law, that is all they can do, and parking a car there does not necessarily violate the law.
Which brings us to another point: even if they sought to cancel the event, there’s no guarantee that people would hear the message.
Wear reminded out that the Pigeon Forge Rod Run was canceled last spring due to COVID-19, but individuals still showed up with their automobiles parked along the parkway.
The other issue, according to Wear, is that not everyone wants it canceled.
He claims that local companies have become friends with long-time attendees, to the point where they now assist with family funerals.
Wear did say, however, that the rod runs were carried into the city when Spring had died in Pigeon Forge.
“Many of these firms couldn’t make it through the first quarter without these performances, and they relied heavily on them. “I’m talking about when I was in the workplace, so not that long ago,” Wear added.
That is no longer necessarily the case.
Wear stated that the city is consistently smashing income records, even during the pandemic year, which included a few months of shutdowns.
Clouse stated that this was not the case with her employment either.
“Our enterprises generated a lot of money two weeks ago and in the last few weeks. And the weekend was the slowest it’s been in two months,” Clouse explained.
However, another Sevier County employee stated that the events are still beneficial to business as long as something is done to address the issue of individuals not respecting the town.
“I think the (rod runs) are excellent to have and generate a lot of income to local companies and employees,” Shawn Blanchette said.
Blanchette also stated that this past weekend was the worst he’d seen in his eight years of working in Sevier County.
Wear stated that the next phase is to determine where citizens and government want to go with the rod runs. He explained that merely canceling the shows is not the solution.
“Who do we want to become in the future? Do we want more of (these shows)? Is this the direction we want to go? Instead of canceling everything, should we try to figure out a way to segregate those groups and ensure that the individuals who are here to have a good time can do so while remaining rule-abiding and respectful?” Wear asked.
Wear stated that he would welcome recommendations from residents at the forthcoming city council meetings. He stated that the future of rod runs is not currently on a work session schedule, but following this past weekend, he is confident it will be soon.
Clouse suggested canceling the rod runs, taking a break, or moving to another city, such as Knoxville.
She said it may take some time for people to grasp the message and quit having their own car shows on the Parkway, but she believes something must be done to stop the disruptive behavior she observed this past weekend.
“We need to have rules in place for these circumstances. We need to designate spaces for individuals to park their cars,” Clouse explained.
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