Having arrived Thursday evening, we had Friday morning and afternoon to rest up,collect mail and various items we had had sent to our campground, and take care of chores. That afternoon a mobile tech specialist came over to install new rear stabilizer jacks. We had been looking forward to this time in Gatlinburg at the Gaither Family Fest, and had planned about 6 days stay at the campground, almost a record for us!!

We had purchased tickets back last year in June, because this event sells out. When terrible forest fires struck Gatlinburg last November, we were concerned that it wouldn't happen at all. But the Gaither people were assured accommodations could be made, and they encouraged us all to come and support the hurting community. More about the fires and their effects later....



The first of five concerts was Friday evening. The Gatlinburg Convention Center was filled with fans and wonderful sounds. We had attended this event once before back in 2007. Here's a picture of us 10 years ago! What a blessed time of enjoying wonderful melodies, messages, harmonies and timeless truths! Bill and Gloria Gaither are older now, but still vibrant musical ambassadors of God's kingdom. They bring only the finest artists and top notch production, but we felt a wonderful sense of the presence of God, too. I (Sharon) especially enjoyed Buddy Greene and a guy named Jeff Taylor. They played Celtic style folk sounding numbers with guitar, accordion, pipe flute and harmonica.


The line-up of Gospel artists included:
Mark Lowry
Guy Penrod
David Phelps
Gordon Mote
Russ Taff
Buddy Greene
Lynda Randle
Jeff & Sheri Easter
The Booth Brothers
The Gaither Vocal Band
Karen Peck & New River
Janet Pascal
The Collingsworth Family
Goodman Revival
Voices of Lee (Lee University)
Charlotte Richie
Kevin Williams
Gene McDonald
Greg Ritchie
Angela Primm
The Nelons
The Isaacs

Rather than going through each concert, we'll just show some pictures that we took from our seats of different performers. Thank heavens for large projection screens! Without the screens, it would have been difficult to see the performers!


The final concert on Sunday night closed out with a rousing song by all the performers with their families joining them.. We didn't want it to end.