By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Things looked bleak for Atmore’s Bee More Summer Festival last Saturday morning (June 14), as a series of thunderstorms and brief rain showers swept across the community, bringing only a relative handful of people to Boxcar Willie Park in the first hour of the afternoon funfest.
But the foul weather moved on, and by the time American Idol winner Jamal Roberts took the stage for a 4 p.m. concert that was the event’s main attraction, a crowd estimated at more than 750 — some in strollers, some in wheelchairs and some with walkers — had crammed into the tiny confines of the municipal greenspace. And they were ready for a show.
“It was awesome,” said Shinora Redmond, executive director of Main Street Atmore, which partnered with the city to bring the singer to town. “There was truly a melting pot of people of all ages. I wasn’t worried about the weather because all week it had done pretty much the same — rained, then cleared up.”
Roberts, who had done a sound check at 1 p.m. before the bulk of the crowd showed up, came on stage holding the hands of two of his daughters, Harmony and Lyric. Before he stepped up to the microphone, most in the crowd were already on their feet, as Acting Mayor Shawn Lassiter and City Clerk Becca Smith presented the singer with a key to the city and a Kathy Buskett caricature of him and his family.
“It’s so good to be embraced and welcomed like this,” he said before he opened the show with a bluesy version of “Tennessee Whiskey,” a George Jones country classic most recently redone by Chris Stapleton that pushed the crowd into fever pitch. Most of the concert-goers remained on their feet as his show, which included several Gospel tunes, progressed.
He also invited several women, including Katrina Thames of Atmore, to join him briefly on stage as he sang. That generated even more of a strong audience reaction. Roberts had competed on another televised singing contest, Sunday Best, and many in the crowed swayed, hands in the air, as he sang the sacred –themed songs.
Marquita Jones of Atmore said she did not see Roberts on American Idol but had become a big fan after watching several of his videos. Erman Ruffin, who also said she missed Roberts on television, explained that there was a simple reason she came.
“He’s from Meridian, Mississippi, and that’s where my daddy, Joe Ruffin, is from, that’s why I came,” she said.
But the American Idol champ wasn’t the only show. There was plenty of local and area talent, too.
The band that backed Robers consisted of three Atmore men — Timothy McReynolds (keyboards), Dernard Dunham (bass) and Joshua Hill (drums). There were also performances by Alabama Idol Brandon Donerson, by singing Baldwin County trucker Donago, and by the New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Praise Team. DJ Huz of Mobile provided recorded music to help set the pre-concert mood.
“We wanted to showcase some of our superstars and give them the opportunity to be on the same stage as Jamal Roberts,” Redmond said. “That’s something they will remember for a long time.”
She added that the singing star’s manager told her Roberts had become extremely popular and was booked throughout the remainder of the year, facts that made his appearance here even more special.
“He’s a hot commodity and he definitely put Atmore on the map,” Redmond said. “And he was truly humbled by the crowd. He could have canceled and given us our money back, but he lived up to his commitment.”
The excitement of the concert crowd overshadowed to a large degree the other activities included in the festival. Earlier, a group of local beekeepers, or apiarists, set up displays under tents at Atmore Water Garden, next to the former American Legion headquarters, chatting with the small crowd that gathered there and offering honey and other goods for sale.
There were also a bouncy house, a mechanical bull that young Zion Waderker, son of Alexis James, stayed on for a six-second count, and a foam machine that was first tested by Tiffany McGhee’s daughters, Avery and Everly Smith.
Several food and drink trucks did a booming business, as the crowd, which filled the seating in front of the stage, the bleachers on each side of the park, the space along the park fence and the middle of Ridgeley Street, scurried for refreshment during breaks in the show.