1st Annual "Rock of the South" - SUCCESS!

Do you know when is the best time to go to the movies on a Friday night? When Kellie Pickler and Dierks Bentley is in concert a couple of blocks away. LOL! 

At last minute, we decided not to go to the concert because we kept hearing all sorts of rumors. Such as, people were coming from all over the South and thousands of tickets were pre-ordered. The park is not that big or at least I didn't think so. I might be wrong. Call us old, but I didn't want to fight the crowd and drag a lawn chair around just to sit in. We would had to get there at 3PM, wait in line for the gates to open and just to get a good sit.  Then, we would have to wait until 7PM for the concert just to begin.  

Of course, I feel like I've missed something good, but we did have our own fun. I've been wanting to watch the new movie "The 5 Year Engagement." It was a quirky, stupid, funny movie. Even though Doug laughed quite a few times during the movie, he made it known to me that he didn't like it. The movie started about the same time Kellie Pickler went on stage. This sounds terrible, but we checked our tweets regularly right before the movie began. LOL! There was probably a whole 8 people in the theater. It was a ghost town and it usually is hopping especially on Friday nights. I really don't understand because it's so expensive to go to the movie theater. It cost me nearly $30 for tickets, a large Coke Zero and a small popcorn. I know, I've been bad today with the junk food. But hey, I have lost a lot of weight. Before today, I was 2 pounds away from my goal. YAY! I've probably gained about 5 pounds. LOL! When we got out of the movies, we drove close to the park, rolled down our windows and could hear the music and fans very clearly. You know there's a lot of people when you can hear them go crazy. We missed Kellie perform, but could hear Dierks just fine singing. He spoke to the crowd quite a bit. On the tweets, everyone was raving about how fun and awesome the concert was tonight. 

 It didn't take long before getting an update from the newspaper. It was reported that there were at least 11,000 on hand to see Pickler and Bentley perform. The hard copy tickets were sold completely out at the gate tonight. Mayor Townson said, our first ever BIG concert was a great success. I don't think they anticipated being as big as it was and from the attendance, was exactly what the community wants - BIG NAME MUSIC FESTIVALS. Residents have been looking forward to this concert for some time now and the rumor is since this was such a huge success, it may become an annual event. YAY! I wished you could have seen the sea of vehicles and people throughout the city. It was awesome! People walking down the sidewalks with their lawn chairs, boots and daisy dukes. School buses literally busing people in from area parking locations. 

 Below are a few pictures from the big event: 

 

Mayor Townson and wife with Kellie Pickler

 

Dierks Bentley on stage

   

 Sea of fans before the concert was well on it's way. 

 Gates opened at 3PM. Concert didn't start until 7PM and lasted until 10PM. Everyone seemed to have had a wonderful time. 

Just a reminder . . . 

Smith Farms Music Festival

May 24th-26th

Artists include:  

Marshall Tucker Band ~ American Idol Taylor Hicks

Velcro Pygmies ~ Rollin' in the Hay ~ Wayne Mills Band

The Ugli Stick ~ Year and a Day ~ Wheelhouse 

Tonya Watts ~ Bad Brad and the Sipsey Slims

Scott Boyer and Kelvin Holley ~ Round 2

Sounds like Trouble ~ 90 Proof ~ Flannel

Caddle ~ Blake Scott Band ~ Wesk  

For Tickets & other information,  CLICK HERE!

Grant it, I only know of two of the groups, but I'm sure it will be an awesome music fest and it will last for 3 days.  Tickets are 3 day passes.  I am hopeful that the attraction will bring loads of revenue into our town. For the past few years, we've had local bands/groups play at several different venues, but to attract several huge groups like this is wonderful for our future.  

 All photos supplied by The Cullman Times