PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Cooking star Paula Deen joined grand marshal Cal Ripken Jr. as a special guest for the 2019 Pigeon Forge Music in the Mountains Spring Parade Friday.
The parade kicked off around 6 p.m.
This was Ripken's second year serving as the grand marshal after Dolly Parton gave up the title. Dolly was the parade's grand marshal for more than three decades before handing it off to Ripken last year.
Paula Deen made her first appearance in the parade this year. Deen opened her restaurant Paula Deen's Family Kitchen at The Island in Pigeon Forge in 2015 as well as Paula Deen's Lumberjack Feud last spring.
Ripken's $22.5 million baseball facility, The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge, has brought hundreds of youth baseball teams across the country to East Tennessee since opening in March 2016.
“In recent years, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Paula Deen have become familiar faces in Pigeon Forge," Pigeon Forge City Manager Earlene Teaster said in a press release. "What a treat for our parade audience to get to enjoy both of them at this year’s Music in the Mountains spring parade.”