Hmm, I wonder if this shot of Mickey and the gang is properly licensed? All the lights on the midway were very pretty at night; they don’t translate well to pictures, I’m afraid. Below, the sign when we were leaving the Alan Jackson concert. I did take a couple of photos of that, with the band looking like ants on the stage, but they are in the big camera so I’ll have to fish...
The two big screens were used to amuse the crowd prior to the concert. Some member of the audience would be shown alongside a celebrity, often with pretty hilarious results (i.e., the guy who was shown alongside Homer Simpson…). A few minutes after 7:30 PM, the screens started a two minute countdown, and the crowd went crazy! They started out with “Gone Country”, which is my official Alan Jackson anthem because I’m a simple...
Above is the grandstand, aka the free seating. We saw people starting to line up as early as 5:00 PM for the 7:30 PM show. I’m glad we bought tickets instead. It was too damned hot to be lined up for that long in the sun, and then the concert was only an hour. So I would have felt really ornery about standing around for 2.5 hours to see one hour of music from...
As mentioned, Chris Cagle’s crew was loading his trailer, which was attached to a big tour bus. Well, it was wedged too damned tightly in between booths and such, and it had a terrible time getting out of the space. Back and forth, back and forth – OY! Well, it was somthing to occupy our attention while waiting to get in to see Alan Jackson.
Chris had a deep-seated need for “those curly fried potato things”, which I admit were good, but they were horribly greasy. The place where she got these was also selling batter-dipped, deep-fried mushrooms, and the guy gave me a free one. It was a freakin’ MOUTHFUL of grease, and I quickly chucked it into the trash. Meanwhile, exciting things were about to occur near the entrance to the concert arena. The Geico Gecko made...
Late in the afternoon, we spied an Alan Jackson tour rig! Kept peering through the fence, but there was no sign of “something tall and strong” anywhere back there. Meanwhile, the star of the 3:30 PM concert, Chris Cagle, was signing autographs while his crew was loading the trailer full of his equipment. He was SHORT, which came as a surprise to me.
In the Sweetbay pavillion, above, there was some sort of beautiful baby contest. I think the baby had to be a Hillsborough County resident. Below, Bubble Gum The Shrimp relaxes in the sunshine after examining the John Deere exhibit. Lots of fine eating establishments interspersed amongst the exhibits as well as on the midway. One Italian eatery, with statuary out front (pic below), reminded me of Italian feasts back home in New York.
Chris wants to know why SHE is always the one that has to model dumb hats and princess accessories, etc. Well, cause I’m the one with the camera in my hand already, that’s why! I think she bought the above t-shirt for Jon. Meanwhile, I cracked up at the one below!
