How does it all come together?

As much as we are all complaining, and I do stress the WE, you'd expect us to be made of pure sugar and fearful of melting away in the rain. Nah! Never happen for any number of reasons.

At least we had a bright and shining moment for the first of our Alive After Five concerts this past Thursday. Contagious Blues kept the tempo revved up to a high level all evening, and it seemed that everyone was enjoying the liveliness, whether they were active listeners, dancers, people watchers, or visiting with neighbors. It's always hard to do an accurate headcount of attendees, especially when there is coming and going over a three hour period. But I feel justified in saying we had about a thousand folks or more who enjoyed a good old block party setting. That's more than decent for the start of a season.

Just so we get the word out a little more widely every time, this series has been in the planning stages since last November, and was finalized in early Februrary. Like clockwork, I picked up a call in the office on Friday with a fellow who asked if we were having Alive After Five concerts this year and could we feature his band?

I'd just like for people to learn that it takes a lot of preparation for these events to work without total mayhem breaking loose. Allison Gragg at Uptown Shelby spent much of December and January booking the bands, talking with agents, and meeting with our Promotion/Events committee. Then she spent March and April talking with sponsors and vendors to be sure there were spaces available, and refreshments for the audience to enjoy.

Lastly, the volunteers from Uptown Shelby's board of directors and from our sponsor businesses all helped keep the wristbands organized, popcorn boxed up and drinks poured at the Uptown tent. Then we fanned out working to be sure every candy wrapper and cigarette butt was picked up. It takes hard work to keep things smooth and get the place looking decent the next day.

By the way, personally, I picked up at least 1,000 nasty cigarette butts on my own. As a cigar smoker, I'm not about to rip into a righteous sermon on smoking. But good lord, folks! Find an ashtray or something! My back hurt for two days!