We finally arrived at the auditorium at about 7pm and were scheduled to sing at 8. No problem. We grabbed our bags, cleaned up as best we could in the dressing room, and hit the stage on schedule. There were over 1,000 people in the auditorium, and as always, they were very good to us. We've built up a pretty good following among the locals and visitors to attend the festival and have made a great many friends that we get to see every year. Here are the boys doing their thing on the Rockport stage:
The guy who made the initial contact with us back in 1998 and started our annual venture to the Coastal Bend is Mark Gilliam, then a sergeant on the Rockport Police Department, and now the Sheriff of Aransas County. Mark stopped by our product table on Friday night and threatened to lock up Tom for impersonating a lead singer.
Saturday dawned gray and a bit wet as some rain was moving in. I took this shot of Fulton Harbor which is directly across the street from our hotel.
We had some time to kill Saturday afternoon and we took up Sheriff Gilliam's offer to tour the new Aransas County detention center.
He's got quite an operation down there and even had a former inmate write to complain that the jail he was currently in wasn't as nice as the jail in Aransas County. It was nice, but I don't plan to stay there. Here I was going through their impressive leg iron collection - the latest in fashionable wear for the modern inmate:
Sunday morning we headed 70 miles north for an appearance at First Baptist Church in Goliad, TX. I learned a little history when I asked why the water tower had the words "Remember Goliad". I was informed about the Battle of Goliad and subsequent massacre during the Texas Revolution, and how that battle helped motivate Texans to fight for their independence and eventually defeat the Mexicans.
The church was founded in 1849 under an oak tree, and over the years two different buildings had been destroyed by tornadoes. As you can see from this shot, the clouds were friendly while we were there (fortunately).
Sunday afternoon it was back to Rockport for the final event of the festival. The Sunday afternoon concert is held at Rockport First Baptist Church. They have a beautiful building, and the stage makes for some great shots:
Before we knew it the fun part of the trip was over and it was time to enter commercial aviation hell once again. We appreciate the folks in Rockport that work so hard to put this show together, and who go out of their way to make us feel welcome each year. The event has gotten bigger each year, and it's always a highlight of the concert schedule.
(Thanks to Tom Moore for some of the photos above.)
UPDATE: You know you're famous when you get your picture in The Rockport Pilot.
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