Pigeon Forge Fall Rod Run

For three days every September, Pigeon Forge hands the town over to the car people. The Fall Rod Run fills the LeConte Center with hundreds of hot rods, muscle cars, street rods, trucks and custom builds, and the overflow spills out onto the Parkway, where cruising runs from breakfast until well after dark. Regulars will tell you the show inside the building and the show on the street are two different events, and that you want time for both.

This is the fall half of a car show with roots in the old Grand Run of the early 1980s. MCS Promotions has run it since 1991 and brought it to the LeConte Center in 2014. Performance Plus Tire is the presenting sponsor this year.

What Happens Each Day

Doors open to participants and vendors at 8 a.m., and the show and swap meet open to the public at 9 a.m. all three days. Thursday and Friday run to 6 p.m., Saturday wraps at 5.

• Thursday: swap meet, car corral and the outside show field in full swing, with the Warman Trio playing the Greenbrier Room mid-morning and again mid-afternoon
• Friday: judging starts at noon, and the $1,000 pre-registration cash giveaway happens at 5 p.m. at the DJ trailer
• Saturday: judging at 10 a.m., the ASA Performance Cool Pick at 11, a toolbox giveaway at noon, then the awards presentation at 5 p.m. in the Greenbrier Room

Awards include the Top 25 and the Ultimate 7, and $10,000 in cash is given away on registered cars during Saturday’s presentation. Television host Courtney Hansen is the celebrity guest this fall, appearing at set times each day, with a VIP meet and greet in the upper lot from 3 to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Show DJ K.O.T.O. broadcasts from the grounds on 107.1 FM.

Admission and Parking

• $20 per person per day
• $45 three-day pass, sold on Thursday only
• Tickets are sold on site, with no advance sales
• Spectator parking at the LeConte Center is free, with two large lots, a shuttle and a pedestrian crosswalk to the front door

Pricing here comes from the organizer’s published show information and can change, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the gate.

Getting Around Town

Traffic is the thing everyone underestimates. Show cars start filling Parkway hotel lots on Tuesday, and by Thursday afternoon the six-mile stretch through town moves at a crawl. The local advice has been the same for thirty years: park once, then walk. Second-floor rooms and balconies along the Parkway are prized for exactly this reason, and they book out months ahead.

The Parkway street show costs nothing and is worth an evening on its own. Sidewalks, restaurant patios and parking lot edges all work as viewing spots.

Bringing a Car

Online registration for outside show cars and the sales corral closed ahead of the show. For late entry options, judging classes or vendor space, call MCS Promotions at (865) 687-3976.

Next year the show moves in the spring: May 20 to 22, 2027, with the fall run set for September 16 to 18, 2027.