“I low-key want to thrift it this year.” I heard as we walked by the group of kids staring into the windows next to the brand new thrift store that just opened on the corner.

“Why would that kid want to thrift a car part?” I mumbled to my friend as we turned the corner. I looked straight ahead, flashing lights, loud cars all around, and the road filled with brightly colored vehicles. All lined up to get into the biggest car show of the year: Gatlinburg 25.

“Kids don’t know anything anymore; they just want what they see on TikTok.” My friend says back to me as he looks at the group of kids staring into the rundown car part store.

We walk down the rest of the street to the event gates. The line is almost a block down the road. “This will surely be one of the biggest shows this year,” I say as we get into the line,

“The line is so long, at least we get to see all the cars pass!” Ethan said back to me, and he was right. We turned to look over the barrier, our eyes lit up at the sight of over 100 cars lined up to get to the show. Every single car was unique; you couldn’t find one car that was built the same as another.

“Dude, we so should’ve brought the cars today,” Ethan said as he scanned the line for any of our friends.

“Yeah, dude, we should have, we will tomorrow.” We had left our cars at the Airbnb due to the traffic, and we soon learned that traffic wouldn’t be the only problem for the show. After a long wait, we finally made it inside the show.

We made our way through the show to the burnout box, where everyone was lined up to do burnouts. As we get to the back, we see cops everywhere, People running, and cars turning around.

“What’s happening?” Ethan says to me as everyone runs by us.

“I have no idea, let’s go find out,” I say back as we walk towards the flashing blue and red lights.

“You guys gotta leave,” An officer says from behind us. We turn around

“What’s going on, sir?” Ethan says quickly as he walks towards us with a bright light beaming on our faces.

“There’s a situation going on in the burnout box, and we need to evacuate everyone asap,” the officer says as he turns around to run back to the box.

“Let’s just go. I don’t want to get hurt or in trouble,” Ethan says as we turn around to leave. We walk out of the gates and get to the exit. I take my phone out to read my notifications.

GATLINBURG 25 IS CANCELED

“Look at this, Ethan,” I say as I show my phone to Ethan

“What the heck, ”Ethann says

“Let’s just get out of here. I’m starving.” I say as we get out to the exit .

We leave and go get food, not knowing the reasons behind the cancellation.