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Sunday, the Flora-Bama, that famous mega-bar on the beach that straddles the Alabama and Florida lines, is picking up just about everything but the sand and water and bringing it to Riverwalk Stadium in downtown Montgomery for the biggest beach party the city has ever seen.
Behind the summer-in-November event: Montgomery jewelry store Marquirette's, which in recent years has become known for giant pre-holiday events, such as a 2007 party at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, complete with a Beatles tribute band straight from Liverpool. That event drew 3,000 people, said Lyle Fields, who owns the store with his wife, Marquirette.
This year, the store wanted to go even bigger. They looked to the Flora-Bama, best known to Gulf Coast locals as "the 'Bama" and touted as "the last American Roadhouse." It's also a longtime favorite beach destination for River Region beachgoers.
A free advance ticket gets you in the door (with a $5 donation to the American Cancer Society which, along with the Montgomery Zoo and Montgomery AIDS Outreach, is benefiting from the event). It is a rain-or-shine event, since attractions won't be on the stadium's field, but on its covered and (if needed) heated concourse.
What's inside? Six hours of fun that includes free beer, a cash bar, thousands of fresh oysters brought in from Apalachicola, Fla., the Bushwacker (the Flora-Bama's famous coffee flavored, milkshake like drink), the entire Flora-Bama Gift shop, beach volleyball and other games.
The gala will also feature nonstop music from 25 of the Flora-Bama's most popular entertainers playing on four stages, including award-winning artists Brasher/Bogue, the Wayne Mills Band, Alan Rhody, Jen Cass and other renowned performers/songwriters. They're all scheduled to appear at the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival, which kicks off next week at Orange Beach. The two-decades-old music celebration has become so well known in the music world that it has to turn down hundreds of aspiring artists each year.
Fields said Montgomerians will be the lucky ones, getting an exclusive preview of the show before its stops at the Flora-Bama and other hot spots on the "Redneck Riviera."
This is how Marquirette's will kick off its Christmas shopping season -- in a prominent spot amidt the beach party mayhem, there will be an on-site Marquirette's, all decked out for the season, where partygoers can browse, start making their wish lists, or buy.
"It's a win-win for everyone," Fields said.
He and Johnny Gilchrist, co-owner of the Flora-Bama, worked together to plan the event, aiming to re-create the flowing, intimate, festive feel of the bar, with listeners easily moving through the concourse from stage to stage and getting up close to the bands and performers as they play.
"It hits all age groups," Fields said of the lure of the Flora-Bama, "so if you're 70, you've been to the Flora-Bama, and if you're in your 30s you've been there."
If you're in your early 20s, you probably haven't, though. The Flora-Bama received a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and closed for nearly a year to rebuild (now, it's once again going strong).
But even then, Fields said, "You've certainly heard about it."
And now, everyone can experience it, without the drive to the beach. The question is, how is Fields going to top this over-the-top event? That's a hard one to answer.
"If anyone has any ideas for next year," he said, "let us know."
To see more of the Montgomery Advertiser, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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