The legend still lives...

Perhaps one of the most exciting and fulfilling elements of the day was the appearance of Milton Hopkins at the very beginning as guitarist for Texas Johnny Boy. Milton is the nephew of Lightnin' Hopkins, the "King of Texas Blues," a native of nearby Leon County and a known entertainer in these parts. Milton looks like his uncle, and dare I say, has comparable talent, that lives up to his family name. Here was a living link to our blues history, playing on the bridge over Cedar Creek. There is no doubt you can see a resemblance between the legendary bluesman and his nephew, and for some of us, a glimpse through him right into the past.

Mance's birthday party

First of all April 10 was actually the day after his birthday... but it was a Saturday and more suitable for a blues festival. It went very well and most everybody had a great time. I will dissect the event later for those interested in tourism and how we pulled it off. But for now I just want to point out the important stuff.

The newly dubbed Mance Lipscomb Park, once known and still marked as "Cedar Creek Park," served our purposes well, and provided a quaint and historic backdrop for the event. The pictures will demonstrate what my descriptions cannot. It was a golden moment.

Our heartfelt thanks go to the City of Navasota which gave us essential ground support, beyond our expectations, and helped make the event a very respectable tourism attraction. They made themselves a very effective partner in our vision.

Our goals were to celebrate Mance's birthday in a worthy manner, unveil our store to the region, bring people from other places to Navasota, entertain everyone who came with excellent food and music, show off our local talent, and even give a bump to retail sales in downtown that weekend. Amazingly, we acccomplished every goal.

And, if I might say so, we had one helluva beautiful time doing it.