Was it really 25 years ago this week or was it all just a Fool-Hearted Memory?
No, it happened and it was The Best Day for the Rockdale Fair that evening in October, 1983 when George Strait stepped onto the Fair Park pavilion stage and Carried Away 13,000 fans.
How George came to the Rockdale Fair wasn’t just out of the Blue Clear Sky. It was actually in a Round About Way.
This seems like A Real Good Place to Start.
George wasn’t an Overnight Success and in the very early 80s, when the 1983 Fair headliner was selected, he was a cowboy singer from nearby San Marcos.
Fair organizers looked at him, thought Why Not Now? and took a chance.
“He was good, he was from nearby and he was available,” John Hughes, who was then Rockdale Fair Association president, said. “So we signed him.” The Nerve.
In the intervening year and a half George became A Fire You Can’t Put Out.
He won virtually every major country music award, and was featured prominently on the Country Music Association Awards Show the week before the 1983 Fair. It Just Comes Natural for someone with his talent. Meanwhile, the word got out in Rockdale. The Fair Association sold out of advance season tickets before George ever put a boot in Fair Park.
The day of his performance the RFA completely sold out of 120,000 food coupon tickets and had to recycle them. What Do You Say to That? Need I Say More? What was billed as a dance became a concert as everyone decided they’d Do The Right Thing and refrain from dancing.
Even the weather cooperated. Rockdale missed the Chill of An Early Fall and even avoided its traditional Fair nemesis as fans decided If It’s Gonna Rain, still I Ain’t Never Seen No One Like You, George.
The Rockdale Fair has never been the same. Write This Down, George kicked us up into the big time and we’ve been there ever since.
I’ve Got a Funny Feeling he had something to do with that.
I’d close by listing some of the songs George has done, but I can’t think of any.
