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Seven Devils Holds Bear Contest, Music Series, And Much More This Summer

Linda Cramblit designed this bear display for the Seven Devils Summer Bear Contest located at 339 Skyview Drive.

By Tzar Wilkerson

The Town of Seven Devils has been filling their Summer with lots of exciting activities and events for locals and visitors alike.

Seven Devils Town Clerk, Hillary Gropp, spoke about some of the town’s upcoming attractions, “The Town of Seven Devils is full of seasonal residents/tourists right now and have plenty of activities to enjoy! On Friday night, July 12th, we do have our ‘Music By The Lake’. It’s our second music series of the summer. It’ll be the Jeff Little Trio down at the Resort Club from 6 to 8 pm. There’ll be plenty of signs within the town limits that’ll help direct you to Devil’s Lake Drive, where the club is located. These Summer events are planned by the town’s Parks & Recreation Committee, and the resort is hosting the event for the town. The concert is free and open to the public. Just bring lawn chairs or blanket to sit on; the concert will happen rain or shine!” For visitors who want to enjoy the monumental talents of pianist Jeff Little and his cohorts, the Music by the Lake show is a great relaxed atmosphere to do it in. The next Music by The Lake performance will be held on August 23rd, and will feature the Dixie Dawn band’s country, rock ‘n roll, bluegrass, and gospel repertoire for fans to enjoy.

Another interesting event that’s being held in Seven Devils is a bear decoration contest that has seen some creative submissions all over town. Hillary gave some background on this unique competition. “We had an impromptu bear decorating contest dreamed up by some of the people on our Parks and Rec Committee a few weeks ago. We have some bears displayed throughout the town. Inside Town Hall, I do have a map of where some of these bears are located. We’re asking the participants to have them displayed by today, and we’re gonna have a judging committee go out on Friday to judge some of the bears. The theme is ‘Summer in the Mountains’, so the bears are kinda decorated with that idea” said Hillary. “The winners of the bear contest will be announced at Friday night’s Music By The Lake. It’s just been kind of a fun little activity that people have enjoyed participating in. We have about 15-16 bears.” As you can see from the photos below, the people of Seven Devils have created some impressive displays in some of the town’s more scenic natural areas, as well as in the higher-traffic areas.

The ever-popular Otter Falls hiking trail has also seen some recent improvements, and is a great destination for visitors to Seven Devils this Summer. Hillary explained the popularity of the trail, saying “The Otter Falls trail is opened year round, with ever-changing scenery, depending on the season. It’s considered ‘moderate to strenuous’, but it really isn’t that long. It’s only a little over a mile long, about a half-mile down. You have Otter Falls, which is a waterfall feature, and we have an observation deck down there. The strenuous part would be getting yourself back up, but most people are able to navigate it. One of the things that we recently completed, because it’s so popular, is we expanded our parking area to accommodate about 12 vehicles – the expansion was funded by Seven Devils TDA. The actual address is 825 Skyland Dr. and it’s just a place that many people come and enjoy. You can meander and take as long as you want, but it’s a quick easy hike.” Trail maps are available at Seven Devils Town Hall.

For those who want to get some less strenuous exercise without venturing into the wilderness of Seven Devils, pickleball is available at the town courts. “We have tennis courts that have been painted with pickleball markings because, on Thursdays mornings at 9 am, we have pickleball during the Summer. You can find lot of this information on our website at www.sevendevils.net. We have all the fun stuff that our town does under ‘For the Locals’. It talks about the pickleball, the music by the lake, the dance aerobics, and the different ranger workshops – it’s just another avenue for people to discover what’s going on in the Town of Seven Devils.” With so many exhilarating new adventures to be experienced in Seven Devils, it’s helpful to have such a comprehensive resource for activities and events before visiting the town.

Hillary’s love for her town wasn’t limited to its thrilling Summer offerings, however. As she so eloquently put it, “It’s easy to say that it’s a great time to be in the mountains this time of year, but the truth is that it’s a great time to be in the mountains any time of year. We have something going on all year around, and we just feel thankful to be able to live and work here.”

Close up views of Linda Cramblit bear designs:

Pictures of Bear Displays on Seven Devils:

Bear #1! 1202 Devils Lake Drive! “Christmas In July”!
Bear #8 684 Thorncliff Drive “Eat, Sleep, Fish, Repeat”
Bear #8 684 Thorncliff Drive “Eat, Sleep, Fish, Repeat”
Bear #11 299 Highcliff Circle