Back From Rockport, TX

The quartet spent the weekend in Rockport, TX, and I thought you might enjoy reading the report:

The boys are back in town after completing a very successful trip to Rockport, TX for the 10th annual Rockport Gospel Music Festival. We've been going to Rockport since 1999 and each year the event has gotten bigger and better. You can see some photos from this year's singing here: Rockport Festival 2005.

This year's festival featured more than 25 artists and groups and played before crowds of more than 2,500 people during the 3 day event.

We flew out of Orange County in the rain on Friday morning and returned in the rain on Monday. According to my wife, it never stopped the whole time we were gone, so I guess we didn't miss too much back at home.

We were met at the airport by Aransas County Sheriff Mark Gilliam who is also the bass singer for Rockport's Gospel Force, the host group of the event. He and Momma Bea drove us back to the Sheriff's station where we got a tour of the new Public Safety Center and some souvenir t-shirts. We also picked up all of our product that had been shipped there earlier.

We headed over to the auditorium to set-up and sound check, and then on to the Lighthouse Inn to clean up for the evening. We mentioned this beautiful hotel last year, and you can see pictures of it from last year's report (Rockport Festival 2004).

We were last up on the Friday night program and didn't go on until after 10 pm. At many concerts you could expect to see only a handful of folks left in the auditorium at that hour, but the people in Rockport love their music and the 1,100 seat auditorium was nearly full when we took the stage following The Nelons lengthy set.

As you know, we've been on the hunt for a new lead singer for several months, and since we haven't found the right guy yet, we borrowed our former lead singer, Eric Baesel who now lives in Frisco, TX, and brought him and his wife Laura to Rockport with us. Eric jumped right in and learned 29 songs in preparation for Rockport, and when we walked out on stage Friday night it was just as though he hadn't been gone for the last three years. Laura was also a big help spending some quality time watching the product table for us. Laura and Eric are expecting their first child on March 11, so this was Laura's last trip before the big event.

Saturday afternoon we renewed acquaintances with Eric's uncle and aunt, Berle and Ruth Green from Victoria, TX. They treated us to a wonderful seafood lunch at one of Rockport's waterfront restaurants, and it's a good thing we all filled up since dinner wouldn't come for many, many hours.

Saturday's concert ran from 10am to 10:30pm and the building was full all day. We sang at about 8pm to a full house of excited gospel music fans. Those winter Texans and local folks really like their gospel music and always treat us very nicely.

After another midnight fast food dinner and a few hours of sleep, we were off to First Baptist Church in Portland for their morning service. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this about the Festival before, but one of the things the hosts do is line up Sunday morning dates for all of the out-of-town groups. This helps us pay the bills and helps them advertise the event in churches all over the area. This was FBC Portland's first year as a host church for the Festival and we appreciate Music Passtor Rick Hamilton opening their church to us and the Festival.

After the service we headed over to the Lagoons RV Park, which is one of many winter Texan parks in Aransas County. Each year the residents of the park prepare a big potluck dinner for all of the visiting groups. It gives us all a chance to relax and fellowship with the other groups, while at the same time enjoying some good home cooking.

Sunday afternoon the Festival kicked off again, this time at First Baptist Church in Rockport. The program ran from 3 to 10:30pm, and we sang our final stand of the trip at around 7:45pm. The church was packed and following our program, the show closed with performances by several local choirs.

As quickly as it started, the trip was over. We flew home on Monday, arriving just in time for the last of the big rains. We were in clouds and rain for the last 45 minutes of the trip and we weren't sure we were ever going to break out. We made it safely back to Southern California with lots of great memories of our friends in Rockport. We know so many people back there now that each Festival is more of a family reunion than a gospel concert. We're already looking forward to next year!

If you're in the area, don't miss the 2006 show - January 6-8, 2006.