Several of the most popular areas in Great Smoky Mountains National Park reopened for the start of the fall tourism season amid the ongoing federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1, which caused nonessential staff furloughs and closures earlier this month.
That’s because most of the 275 full-time employees in the park are now being supported by a nearly $2 million commitment from local governments and nonprofits in the region.
The popular scenic drive in Cades Cove, the Sugarlands Visitor Center outside of Gatlinburg and the Chimney Tops picnic area — each of which average over 100,000 visitors a month — reopened Oct. 4.
Sevier County Vice Mayor Bryan McCarter said when popular attractions like these are closed, people begin to think the entire park is shut down. That misunderstanding has the potential to tank tourism in the surrounding region.
“We need to have places for people to hike, to drive, to picnic,” McCarter said. “If that place is not open … the perception amongst a lot of folks is, ‘Well, then Sevier County must be closed.’”
For many communities that dot the foothills of the Smokies, October is one of their busiest seasons. And Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the anchor that draws tourists to the region. Last week, the National Park Service published a study that found the economic benefits of the park in surrounding areas was nearly $3 billion in 2024.
“It's our main driving force for our tourism economy here,” McCarter said. “We need to have that park open.”
Days after the shutdown began, Sevier County entered into a 30-day agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior — which oversees the National Park Service — to provide about $62,000 a day to keep the park fully open through the shutdown.
The county sought help from its neighbors and managed to get commitments from six other governments and one nonprofit to provide additional funding.
The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development will provide $80,000 a week. Blount County, the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the cities of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville will each provide about $45,000 a week.
This isn’t the first time that the federal government has failed to keep the Smokies open. In 2018, during the nation’s longest shutdown that lasted 35 days, local governments and states banded together to keep the park running during tourist season.
“We understand how important the Smoky Mountains are to people, so we're making sure that if people are thinking about coming to Tennessee, to come to the Smokies, come right on down, it's going to be beautiful,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said.
The initial agreement stipulates that the coalition can fund the Smokies in as little as three-day increments until the shutdown comes to an end, though they’ve currently agreed to fund the park through Oct. 19.
Jim Matheny, a spokesperson for Friends of the Smokies, said the park needs staff to remain safe and effective. He compared visiting a national park with no rangers to visiting Disney World without Mickey Mouse.
“Even if you had places that you could get to, there's a big difference between it being accessible and being fully staffed,” Matheny said. “It’s significant to just be able to have full staffing here.”
Matheny added that many staff considered nonessential by the federal government take care of things like emergency responses, restroom sanitation and trail maintenance. If those jobs went unfilled, a person’s experience in the park could be much worse.
“Some folks don't necessarily feel comfortable going out and exploring the park if they don't think people are going to be here to help provide all those normal services,” he said.
Ray Nelson, a tourist visiting the park from upstate New York, and his wife stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center on Tuesday for a short rest. He said they’re glad local governments are filling gaps to make sure the park is staffed.
“When there's a big tragedy, people step up,” Nelson said.
The Sevier County government and its partners in the coalition hope the federal government will pay back all the money that’s been given to the park once the shutdown ends.
“The last time this happened, Senator [Lamar] Alexander actually put in an appropriation resolution to pay back these local governments for what they did,” Vice Mayor McCarter said. “We sure hope that we're able to do that same thing this time.”
But that’s not a guarantee. And with the Trump administration signaling that some federal workers won’t receive backpay, it’s unclear whether funds donated by local governments to keep services open will be reimbursed.
This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky and NPR.