Demopolis makes #5 on A&E

Brian · 12-19-2003

Those that tuned in tonight or simply watched these boards would know that on the A&E Special "Ultimate Small Town Christmas" Demopolis' own Christmas on the River gave us a well placed 5th out of the top 20. No doubt many may have missed this well done piece, so we have provided for your viewing pleasure the Demopolis segment as seen on A&E fresh off my video capture card. Enjoy.

Download the video here.

Warning: This file is 12.5MB in size.

dave · 12-19-2003

Nice job Bro!!

For those of you using a dial-up connection, you'll want to right-click the file and click "save target as" to download it first before attempting to watch it.

tombstonebarbie · 12-19-2003

Thanks Brian!! I'm proud of our little town. I agree with Dave on the chitlin festival?????? I think that maybe......some of the people that they spoke to could have given a negative vibe........

bran · 12-19-2003

GOOOOOOOOD on #5! I'm so proud of Demop!

bran · 12-19-2003

Great video! Good job!!

rob · 12-19-2003

I missed the show last night.Who beat us for 1st through 4th?

Scott · 12-20-2003

I finally watched the special and man i have got to say the chitlin festival was the crappiest thing i have ever seen! Come on all they did was fry up osme chitlins and have the mascot (pig) walk down the road. I think Demopolis could have easily been #4

pipster · 12-20-2003

Yeah, I completely agree. The Chitlin Festival had absolutely nothing to do with Christmas! I didn't see a single holiday thing in their festival, just a bunch of people eating fried pig guts! The window thing on #3 was kind of interesting, though; and I would have to agree with who they picked for #1. That one was gorgeous. What was #2? I don't quite remember...

dave · 12-20-2003

Branson Missouri got #2, and that one was awesome as well, though they do briing in as much loot on tourism per capita as Las Vegas, so a little unfair.

Eagle101 · 12-20-2003

Per captia I believe Demopolis came in first place. The other towns looked a lot bigger than us. We have nothing to be ashamed of. Even with what many consider a down year, we did better that 15 other towns. Maybe this will fire everyone up to help make COTR 2004 the bet yet, knowing we may have other networks looking at us. I'm sure the A&E program will send more tourism our way. One thing I believe we have to do and that is to do something to enhance the river parade. The barge floats look great but how about a contest for the best decorated boat? How about the people who stay at the yacht basin? Light displays accross the river between floats? Move the fireworks a little up or down river so people won't be having to crank their neck back to view them. Comments on this anyone?

dave · 12-21-2003

I totally agree on a few points.

The Network shows will hopefully get folks more fired up about the event.

The boats at the Yacht Basin would look great decorated. Also, they could do more with downtown like the living window scenes we saw. Especially on the night of the Living nativity, the Gaineswood and bluff Hall tours, and the Crowning of St Nich. Consilidate the events into one great evening instead of 3 pretty good ones. That would also get more of the community involved I think. I would also have to change times on the BBQ contest to not happen at the same time as the Fair in the Square (judging). It would be better to move the judging to 4 pm if it's possible rather than from 12 to 4, which splits the folks between the 2 events.

Now that we have buzz phrases like "Top 5 celebration in the USA", we should do more to advertize the week leading up toi COTR in the big papers. If they aren't doing it, get the hotels, travel agencies and local restaurants involved in promoting packages for the week.

A shuttle service that runs the whole day of saturday, to allow for further parking without all the walking. Traffic and paring is one of the major turn-offs of COTR.

Get a Grand Marshall, or some symbolic figure, that's recognizable outside the City of Demopolis. Imagine if Rubin Studdard had been the GM this year?

Hold a huge chitlin cookoff just before the...(just kidding)

pipster · 12-21-2003

	Quote:
	Originally posted by The Sarge One thing I believe we have to do and that is to do something to enhance the river parade. The barge floats look great but how about a contest for the best decorated boat? How about the people who stay at the yacht basin? Light displays accross the river between floats? Move the fireworks a little up or down river so people won't be having to crank their neck back to view them. Comments on this anyone?

From what I understand, my mother remembers that they used to have a contest between businesses in town over who could come up with the best float. She couldn't remember what the winner received or anything, but she said that the years the city did that, there were some GREAT floats. Most of them moved (like the Elf Float does) and weren't the immobile light pictures that most of them are now.