Since Wednesday of last week, I've gotten to visit with many Southern Gospel fans, as well as a lot of Singing News subscribers. "How so?" you may ask.
To start with, the annual Albert E. Brumley Gospel Sing started Wednesday and just as in previous years, the civic center was full of fans. Let's be honest: When your attendance figures read something like
Wednesday-4,000,
Thursday-5,500 and
Friday-5,500, you've had a good week...
Bob Brumley, Duane Garren and everyone connected with the event, work hard at presenting an event that brings in fans from literally all over the country and a few foreign countries as well. Just for kicks, I walked down one row of cars in the parking lot and in just that one row, I saw license plates from 18 different states and one from Canada. That's not bad, not bad at all.
Lots of promotion went into this event—not only from Brumley and crew, but also from the city of Lebanon, Missouri, itself. Everywhere I went I saw signs with, "Welcome Gospel Music Fans," "Welcome Brumley Sing," or something like that. Singing posters were everywhere and if you didn't know about the concert in that area, well...
And, of course, all of that promotion was assisted by the fact that the line-up was basically a "best of the best" list.
After the conclusion of Friday's event, I drove the two-plus hours to the St. Louis airport to head to Gainesville, Ga., for the annual St. Jude Children's Hospital benefit concert at the Georgia Mountains Center. When I arrived, I found out that my flight had been delayed by about two hours. But between the time I got to the airport and the time I actually left the ground, I experienced some interesting, well, uh, experiences. Visit my Facebook page to read more about that.
Once I finally got to Gainesville, it was great to see another full building (about 2,500 in this instance). Appearing on the program were Gold City, Karen Peck & New River, the Down East Boys, the Old Paths, the Diplomats and the Watkins Family. Tim Riley was as solid as a rock on the low notes and Jeremy Peace of the Old Paths was in great form on the high notes. The Diplomats did a great job closing the program, holding their own after Gold City had a great stand. Karen Peck & New River got quite a few standing O's and the crowd enjoyed the Watkins Family as they sang material from their latest album. The audience enjoyed the Down East Boys and they truly responded when the quartet's Ricky Carden took up the offering for the hospital. Long story short, Ricky encouraged the audience to donate the largest offering ever in the history of this benefit concert: Over $26,600.00.
I cannot express to you how encouraging it was to see such large crowds at each event. People
WILL come out to a concert if it is properly promoted and if the event features groups people want to hear.
There are other great events on the horizon. In just a few weeks, the annual Blue Mountain Gospel Music Festival will take place in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and as you may already know, this is the largest multi-day event in the Northeast. Also taking place soon is the Gatlinburg Gathering (naturally in Gatlinburg, Tenn.), and for the last several years, this event has enjoyed huge crowds. And, of course, let's not forget the National Quartet Convention in September, the events at Silver Dollar City in Branson, and the annual month-long event at Dollywood in October.
I'll be looking to see you at a concert soon!
