Chris Phillips with the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park spoke at the regularly scheduled Tourism Commission meeting on Tuesday. Phillips discussed several upcoming events the park is scheduled to hold.

One of the events slated is the “Old Fashioned 4th of July.” The event will take place Saturday at Hensley Settlement. The fee is $10 per vehicle and the due must be paid beforehand at the Visitor’s Center. The last tickets to the settlement will be sold at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

The Shillalah Creek Road will be open only to “up” traffic from 10 a.m. to noon. The road will be open only to “down” traffic beginning at 2 p.m. All vehicles must depart the settlement by 6 p.m.

The event will have music, horseshoes, sack races, hoop and stick relays and more. Participants can bring hot dogs and s’mores to cook over the open campfire and a blanket to picnic.

“It should be a fun day,” said Phillips. “If you’ve never been up there, it would be a good opportunity.”

Another event that Phillips discussed was the Celebrating a Legendary Land event from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. The park is bringing in a cave simulator that will allow you to “sandwich yourself between and perform twister like gyrations amongst artificial cave formations and cave creatures.”

The event will take place at the Visitor’s Center parking area. Cave simulator hours will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Aug. 31 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 1-2.

“For people who can’t actually go through the caves because of health problems, this is an actual cave simulator,” said Phillips. “It’s supposed to be really educational and really cool. It’s something you can bring your kids to or yourself.”

The park will also be holding an event at Bartlett Park at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 through Sept. 2, where attendees can watch rangers mist net bats over Little Yellow Creek. The event allows you to learn about challenges facing the animal including new and devastating diseases and increased environmental alteration by humans.