GEORGIA RADIO - I was startin' to worry after I saw the Facebook post from Almon Funeral Home “An Evening With Rick Bragg." I'm sure it wouldn't have been the first time tickets were sold to a southerner's funeral, especially one of such note, but come Saturday morning, when Rick Bragg emerged from his hotel room, I sure was relieved he wasn't laid out in a fine oak casket. In our small town, when someone as beloved as Rick Bragg comes to visit, everyone gets excited, and I suppose even funeral homes feel a responsibility to share the big news. One of the greatest southern authors of all time was in Carrollton, for the second annual Carrollton Bookfest and Writers Conference. We had a great day with a number of celebrated authors, and all of them were very much alive too. All in all, the second annual Bookfest and Writers Conference was a grand success.
But, I have to admit, Saturday evening, during the big event that had been advertised on the funeral home's page, I started wondering when folks introduced themselves from such far off places as Ontario, Canada and even a small town in Minnesota, if they'd somehow stumbled onto the post from funeral home? Either way...the event sold out. But during his performance, when he joked about his own funeral saying the state of Alabama would probably carry him to his final rest “towed behind a Buick" and then added "they probably already have it warming up," several folks seemed a bit squeamish. So, when it came time to sign autographs, BookMiser actually sold out of some of his books as the line of devoted fans wrapped around the side of the theater. One lady even planted a kiss on his cheek. I think he even met a few cousins he never knew he had, and one old woman brought him a MatchBox car, the same kind he famously wrecked as a boy. Everyone looked happy when they left the theater that night, relieved that a big Buick with Roll Tide emblazoned across the top wasn't parked out front. God Bless small towns and funeral homes that still share the news of the living, and God Bless Rick Bragg.
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