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Summer Concert Series to return in 2020
T
his year’s Summer Concert Series has played
the finale, but the first-time event will return for
an encore next year.
“With the feedback we have received, it is a no-
brainer,” Michele Merryman-Bell, former director of the
Palestine Area Chamber, said in August. “We will repeat
this event in 2020.
“We are thrilled to have created a summer community
gathering with such a wonderful first-year response.”
Sponsored by The Chamber and Smooth Rock 93.5,
the series presented three concerts over three months
in Oxbow Hollow, 215 E. Crawford, in Old Town.
Despite the heat, 200 attended the first concert in
June, with music provided by Chris Oliver and Company.
Oliver entertained the crowd with soft-rock tunes
associated with summer like “On Broadway” and “Easy
Like Sunday Morning.”
Despite showers just prior to the event, 200 attended
July’s Saturday concert that featured Michael Paul Jones
as the opening act with an acoustic set. The main act,
The Magills, played a unique blend of Americana, gospel,
and rock.
More than 400 people attended the last of the three-
concert series in August, swinging and swaying to the
Tuxedo Cats.
“We are incredibly grateful for all who supported
the Summer Concert Series – sponsors, locals, visitors,
and many volunteers,” Merryman Bell said. “Music is
good for the soul and is a bond all people can share, no
matter where they come from or what they do for a
living.”
For each event, The Cocktail Camper served as a beer
garden; kids enjoyed games, and families and groups
brought their own picnics to the event. People were
lounging in outdoor chairs, on blankets, around tables,
visiting, playing games, and dancing the night away.
Special to the concerts were sponsorship tables and a
tablescape competition.
Table themes from the June event were seascapes
with mermaids, antique/vintage cars, Margaritaville
Parrot Heads, a fiesta, cotton fields, and a topiary
garden.
Table themes for July’s event included “Christmas in
July,” complete with a decorated Christmas tree and
wearing Santa hats; “True Southerners,” with plates
adorned with fried chicken and pecan pie and hats and
sear-sucker pants; “PRMC Keeping Palestine Healthy,”
with surgical hats, urine cups filled with gatorade,shots
of blue beverages; and “Celebrating America,” adorning
the entire table with everything red, white, and blue.
Table themes for August included “Great Gatsby at
the Beach,” “Kentucky Derby,” “Ready for Fall,” “Tuxedo
Cats,” and “Hawaiian Tiki Bar.”
“The table sponsors really went all out for all three
events,” Merryman Bell said. “It was hard for us to name
a winner for each of the competitions.”
Glenn Barnhart, manager of the Memorial City Hall
Performance Center in Marshall, applauded the event.
Barnhart is the former director of the Piney Woods Fine
Arts Association in Crockett, which sponsors a summer
concert series in June at the J.B. & Kathryn Sallas
Amphitheater in Crockett.
“The first summer concert series was an absolute joy
to attend,” Barnhart said. “Perfect weather and a shady
table under the oak trees created a wonderful setting
to have a concert. You created a community event—not
just a concert.”