Slammedenuff Gatlinburg, Tennessee 2024. Being our fourth year attending this show, I had started to plan for everything in early July, knowing how much prep needed to be done well in advance. We had just moved into our new house in June, so money and time were tight with all that transitioning over. We booked the 30-person cabin in Pigeon Forge, created the show exclusive design, and another collaboration design with Battlegang. We then packed 20 boxes with all the small goods and accessories to be sent to our new franchise owner, Jared. 300 shirts and 150 hoodies were printed and sent down from our supplier for the show. We then took 4 check-in suitcases and brought in an extra 2000 stickers and some Canadian candy to sell at the booth.
This year, we flew from Calgary to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to Knoxville. We had Jared pick us up at the airport since we brought 9 Canadians and needed more room than our 7-seater rental could handle. We got a 2024 Cadillac Escalade, which was pretty gangster. We headed over to our cabin, unpacked, and then went to Buc-ee's for food, then the world's largest knife store, to shop around. We returned to the cabin in the evening and waited for everyone to get into town. Our cabin had members from Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey, and Canada. We ended the night with a BORG (black-out rage gallon) and partying until the sun came up.
We headed to the Sevierville Convention Center on Friday to set up for the show in the early afternoon. This was our first year doing a 20x10 booth and having eight tables for our merchandise. After a few hours of setting up, we went to the brick lot to check out the cars for the unofficial pre-meet. We initially had a pre-meet planned with Basic Clique and Swerv from Florida, but it got canceled a day before due to the cops not wanting it to happen. The brick lot was packed with over 3000 cars but got shut down around 9:30 pm. It felt like a Car X lobby in real life. We then returned to our cabin to eat, hang out, and prepare for tomorrow's show.
Saturday, we got to the show at 7:00 am to tidy up the booth and get the 6 booth cars parked. We had cars from Ontario, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, California, and Ohio. The show was way busier than last year spectator-wise, with us having a lineup throughout the entire day. We sold out of our Gatlinburg exclusive design in 4 hours as I was kicking myself for not making double the amount we brought. We brought 400 show-exclusive stickers and gave them all out in a few hours. We had 8 people running around at the booth talking to people, getting sizes, working the card machine, taking in cash, or grabbing an item from the back. It was nice talking to vendors and brands we've collaborated with over the years and seeing new and old friends from last year for a quick chat or photo. Afterward, we went to the same Mexican restaurant our first booth manager, Zach, visited last year. We then returned to the cabin to hang out and prepare for another show day.
We were at the show again all day on Sunday, with it being much slower than Saturday spectator-wise. It was nice to have a little extra time to enjoy the show instead of only being able to run the booth. After the show, we packed up and returned to our cabin for a barbecue. We finished the night by partying and enjoying our time together for only 5 days of the year. Most people in our cabin this year had never met in real life until this weekend, but we have all talked online for most of the year.
We went for lunch on Monday, walked the town, and enjoyed being tourists. We hit a couple of moonshine tastings and went in and out of the touristy stores of Gatlinburg. Like last year, we went to Anakeesta to watch the sunset and did the Astra Lumina light show again. We ended the night at Wendy's with 100 nuggets and then returned to the cabin for drinks and business talk. Our friend Nick filmed an after-movie for us the entire weekend, so we did a couple of interviews with him for the movie to finish it. I've always wanted a documentary-style video for the Gatlinburg weekend, so I'm finally excited to have one for this year. It was a lot to reflect on, thinking that in 2021, we only had 30 shirts for the show, and now we just sold out of 450 in 4 hours.
Tuesday, we got our stuff packed up and said our last goodbye to our internet friends. Without these internet friends, the brand would not be what it is today. We went to Bucc-ee's for lunch and returned to Knoxville for our flight home—Knoxville to Dallas, then Dallas to Calgary. We had Shake Shack in the airport, then finally returned home to Calgary after 8 hours of flying. The trip always feels like a fever dream, being long and short at the same time since we barely got any sleep all weekend.
A big thank you for stopping by the booth, buying something, saying hi, taking a photo with us, getting an autograph, or simply meeting in person for the first time after having known each other online for years. We appreciate each and every single one of you. The brand would not be what it is today without you; we hope everyone had as good of a time as we did. A lot can change in a year, and I'm excited to see what next year's Gatlinburg will be like.
Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life. See you in 2025!
- Brandon Yuen