Sealybration a sizzling celebration

Another Sealybration has come and gone and the time has come for evaluation and planning for the next year.

Since this is my first Sealybration, I don’t have a frame of reference for comparison. I don’t know if it is bigger, smaller, better or average for the annual festival. I can compare it to other festivals, and I’ve been to a lot.

I’ve seen summer festivals in bigger towns that were not as good and I’ve seen festivals in smaller towns that were better. I’ve never seen one with such a huge softball tournament before. I also got my first taste of competition cooking thanks to our publisher and her husband, Karen and Eddie Lopez.

I had no idea how serious these competitions were and how dedicated the competitors are to their craft. I had the pleasure of sampling each of the meats Eddie prepared for the competition. It was all some of the best barbecue I’ve ever had.

 Knowing how good his stuff was, I was stunned we didn’t take home any metal. I think the world of competition cooking is going to require a little closer examination, or at least some serious sampling.

I did not watch any of the softball, as our new sports writer, Mindy Blankemeyer, had that covered. I did notice that the tournament went with the ferocity of a Chicago election, meaning it went early and often and lasted well into the night.

Speaking of well into the night, when I first heard that the headlining act, country singer Steve Wariner, wasn’t taking the stage until 11:30 p.m., I thought that was highly unusual. Normally you would showcase your top performer in prime time. Why would you pay big money for a famous singer and then have him go on long after most of the crowds would have gone home and gone to bed.

Again I got an education on small town summer festivals in South Texas. The crowds didn’t go home. In fact, I think they grew. The temperature dipped and the night air felt refreshing. Another thing that was refreshing was watching people dance. Y’all were doing actual real dances, not just swaying your hips or gyrating a little bit like most do in the rest of the country. People of all ages were dancing and doing it well.

I was disappointed in the parade. Most people didn’t seem to know there was one. I had to search high and low for it. There was nothing more than a few tractors and classic cars in it. My wife and I made up half the crowd. The traffic on the street wasn’t stopped and went around the parade.

Sadly, it was the longest of the two parades I’ve seen this year in Sealy. Apparently Sealy knows how to cook barbecue, play softball and dance to live music, but doesn’t know how to put on a parade. (And no, I’m not volunteering to head it up next year.)

It was really cool to see how many people volunteered and worked hard to make Sealybration happen. The committees did an oustanding job. Things that needed to get done got done. I was very impressed.

That being said, I think the next year would benefit from maps of the grounds. I think a flier with all of the pertinent information would have been very helpful.

I would have also liked to purchase a Sealybration t-shirt, but never saw them for sale.

All in all, I think Sealybration was enjoyable and it supports a great cause with the Sealy Community Foundation. Everyone involved deserves major kudos. I’m really looking forward to next year’s festival.