Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 244: Where Nature Meets Amenities: The Story of Smoky Bear Campground
What makes Klaire Todd and Patrick Oleary with Smoky Bear Campground a good neighbor?
Tucked away just across from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Smoky Bear Campground offers the perfect blend of natural beauty and modern comfort. Klaire Todd and Patrick O'Leary share their journey as owners of this family-operated getaway that doesn't just provide a place to stay—it delivers an experience worth returning to year after year.
With roots in hospitality dating back to the 1970s, Patrick and Klaire have crafted something special: a tree-filled sanctuary where camping doesn't mean sacrificing comfort. They dispel the myth that outdoor vacations require "roughing it," offering full hookup RV sites, comfortable cabins, and amenities like a pool, hot tub, and meticulously maintained bathhouse. Yet they've preserved what matters most—the genuine camping atmosphere created by mature trees and peaceful surroundings just 13 miles from downtown Gatlinburg.
What truly distinguishes Smoky Bear Campground is the personal touch. The owners remain on-site, ensuring every guest enjoys their stay. This dedication has fostered remarkable loyalty, with families returning multiple times yearly—so many that Klaire and Patrick have watched children grow up over repeated visits. They've weathered challenges like COVID-19 and Hurricane Helene while maintaining their commitment to excellence. For four-legged family members, the campground has become a beloved destination where the daily "dog parade" creates community among visitors from across the country. Whether you're planning your first camping experience or continuing a family tradition, Smoky Bear Campground welcomes you to discover why so many consider it their home away from home in the mountains.
Discover more at www.SmokyBearCampground.com or call 865-436-8372. Have you experienced camping with amenities? Share your thoughts about combining nature and comfort for your next vacation!
What makes Klaire Todd and Patrick Oleary with Smoky Bear Campground a good neighbor?
To learn more about Smoky Bear Campground go to:
https://www.smokybearcampground.com/
Smoky Bear Campground
865-436-8372
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am super excited today to have two very special guests in the studio and I'm anxious to learn all about them and what they do. And I'm sure you will be too, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbors, ms Claire Todd and Mr Patrick O'Leary, with the Smoky Bear Campground.
Speaker 3:Hi Skip.
Speaker 2:How's it going?
Speaker 4:Oh, we're doing great, thank you.
Speaker 2:All right, very good. Well, like I said, we're very excited to learn all about you guys and Smokey Bear Campground. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do?
Speaker 4:Okay, we are a family owned and operated campground right outside of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We have RV sites, tent sites, cabins. We have full hookup sites with water, sewer, electric, cable, wi-fi. We have a pool and a hot tub. A very clean bathhouse, a very clean bathhouse, yes, Very important, very important Awesome.
Speaker 4:Well, you guys have a little bit of everything. It sounds like we do, yeah, and we love what we do. We're basically right across the street from the national park, so it's nice and quiet over here. We have lots of trees and flowers.
Speaker 2:And bear and deer, yeah, every now and then. Every now and then. Well, how did you guys get into this business?
Speaker 3:Well, my family has been in the hospitality industry since the 70s. Basically, my background was my parents' retirement plan, just to keep busy. So, yeah, it's been a lifelong passion for me and Claire joined the team about 10 years ago because of her love of the area and the outdoors.
Speaker 2:Her love of the area and the outdoors. Very cool. Now, are you Claire? Are you from the area?
Speaker 4:I am not. I am from Merles Inlet, south Carolina. I'm a born and raised a beach girl, and we always vacation to the mountains. So now I live in my vacation destination.
Speaker 2:Very cool and you grew up in one of mine, actually, murrell's Inlet. My family used to go to Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach for, or Sunset Beach for vacation and we would go to Murrell's Inlet to go out to eat at least once, because they have so much good food.
Speaker 4:Anyway.
Speaker 2:Seafood.
Speaker 4:Capital, south Carolina. Yes, yes, indeed.
Speaker 2:Well, what are some myths or misconceptions in the campground resort business?
Speaker 4:One is that camping is roughing it. It doesn't have to be. You can have nature and amenities. And so at our campground we've got full hookups. At all the sites We've got the cabins that have all the amenities the bath and shower room, the pool and the hot tub. So you can have both nature and amenities.
Speaker 3:And we have a lot of trees. The campground was a teeny so you know a lot of the other campgrounds are a little more clear cut, but coming here we have a lot of old trees and it's it's. It's like a camping experience with amenities very nice, very nice I like that.
Speaker 2:I don't, you know, I've been to campgrounds where it's just, like you said, a clear-cut field kind of thing, and that's just not camping to me. But yes, anyway, um so um, who are who your target customers? Who do you try to market to?
Speaker 4:We market towards people that love nature and camping, families and people that want a peaceful setting for their vacation.
Speaker 3:People who like to travel with their dogs or pets. It's harder in a hotel.
Speaker 2:Definitely. Unless you sneak them in in a suitcase, it's not a good idea. Not that I've dumped in there, done that.
Speaker 3:Nope.
Speaker 2:But yeah, camping, and dogs love to camp too, you know.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh yeah. Sometimes it's like a you know a dog parade out here. Everybody walks their dogs and chats it up.
Speaker 2:So you have a pretty big dog population during busy days?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think a lot of the campers are camping in RVs because they have a dog.
Speaker 2:Very good, makes sense. That's Well, makes sense.
Speaker 1:That's becoming more and more popular.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so have you guys ever speaking of Target customers? Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 4:Not so much. We're pretty busy with the campground.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure. Well, speaking of that, outside of work, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 4:We love to do nature inspired activities hiking, paddling, you name it. We love traveling.
Speaker 3:Good food.
Speaker 4:We love music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a lifetime musician, Very cool Any particular genre of music, or all over the place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mostly everything, mostly everything Very good yeah, I think my original music is progressive rock.
Speaker 2:Love it. Absolutely love it, man. So well, let's switch gears. So can you either one of you, describe a hardship, whether personal or personal or professional, or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger in the end?
Speaker 4:I think recently going through COVID was a challenge for our business. We had to learn a new way of doing things and also we got extremely busy and it was awesome. And then now recently, the Hurricane Helene has affected us, with the road closures and also people thinking that we might be closed as well, and we are open.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the aftermath of Helene is, you know, gosh. We all know what happened in western North Carolina and it's just horrible and a lot of people think that maybe the area is just not as accessible as it used to be or things are closed. But we're here, everybody's open in Gatlinburg, the roads are open.
Speaker 2:Well, Gatlinburg didn't really get a ton of damage from Helene, did it?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Newport did, which is pretty close. Newport got hit hard.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it did. It was the houses were floating away. The river was 20 feet high.
Speaker 2:Unbelievable Once in a lifetime. Man For sure. Well, definitely, covid and a hurricane, those are big things, but it sounds like you guys came out on the other side just fine and things are going well.
Speaker 4:We're just trying to get folks back up in the mountains.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, we're having a very nice season. The weather's been great and we're ready to rock.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. Well, if you guys could think of one thing that you'd like our listeners to remember about Smokey Bear Campground, what would that be?
Speaker 3:Campground. What would that be? I think that we are very sincere about creating experiences and in a family environment for our customers. We're very blessed that they choose us for their yearly vacation and we take it very seriously. The owners are always here on premises and we are here to make sure everyone is happy in their stay.
Speaker 2:That's a very important thing to remember and you know, being family owned to me is huge. You know, I grew up staying in Gatlinburg, actually in a hotel with my grandparents that had been there forever and we knew the people and we would go back every year and stay in the same place just because we had such a good experience. So sounds like you guys are shooting for the same thing.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, we rely on our regulars. We have some people that come three, four times a year. Yeah, we've seen children grow up and it's just amazing.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, love it, love it. Well, for those of us who haven't been there to Smokey Bear Campground and would like to learn more about what you guys have and what you're close to and look at reservations, how can they learn?
Speaker 4:more SmokeyBearCampgroundcom. Our phone number is 865-436-8372. And we are located 13 miles outside of downtown Gatlinburg, at 4857 Parkway East.
Speaker 2:Very good, and that is Smokey Bear Campground, without an e in the word smoky right correct s-m-o-k-y very important gotcha gotcha well guys. Uh, patrick claire, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys taking time out of your busy schedule uh to to spend some time with us and tell us all about your, your campground and you guys and your story, and we appreciate that and wish you and your families and your guests and the campground all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Skip, thank you so much for having us on the Good Neighbor podcast. It's been great.
Speaker 2:Well, we're thrilled to have you and maybe we can have you back again sometime in the future. All right, all right, you guys have a good one.
Speaker 1:Thanks. Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP, try dash citiescom. That's GNP, try dash citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.