BamaJam: ‘If you build it, they will come.‘

By Carole Brand
Ledger Staff Writer
Published: June 8, 2008

The dust settles Sunday morning across hundreds of acres at the BamaJam site, leaving thousands with memories of one of the largest music festivals ever hosted in the south.

Thousands of people attended the three-day event, which began Thursday evening and hosted performances by Hank Williams Jr., Darryl Worley, Tracy Lawrence, Miranda Lambert, ZZ Top and many more country music stars.

Thursday evening, Ronnie Gilley of Ronnie Gilley Entertainment presented checks to the family members of the Jimmy Bowden Foundation and the Bo Harrell Foundation. Gilley stated that the foundations received checks totalling $25,000 each because of the fans.

“Both of these foundations received the funds because of ticket sales and that’s what we set out to do,” he said. “We wanted to give back to this community in a big way and thanks to the fans who have come out here and supported BamaJam, we were able to do this.”

As the main stage kicked off BamaJam Thursday evening with Ashton Shepherd and Heartland, it was Darryl Worley’s tribute to Enterprise’s Parker McQueen that silenced the crowd.

Worley told the audience he had met Parker, the son of Dr. Mike and Pam McQueen of Enterprise, when he shot the Tracy Lawrence video. The shoot included scenes from the McQueen home.

“Parker had a lot of health problems all his life and I had the opportunity to meet him. He didn’t have a word to say, but the things he didn’t say spoke more,” Worley said. “When I met him, we had an instant connection and he touched my life. Parker was a special gift to this whole community.”

Parker McQueen died earlier this year before Worley could keep a promise to come back and sing for him, so Worley sung “I Miss My Friend,” as a tribute to Parker as the large screen beside the stage showed photos of Parker.

As the evening progressed, the crowds kept coming. Michael and Fran Scheel of Fort Rucker said they planned to attend BamaJam all three days.

“We’re stationed here, but I’m originally from Montana,” Scheel said. “We’ve got family from Virginia and North Carolina who are flying in tomorrow (Friday) to stay the weekend just for the festival.”

Daleville residents Hillary Royal and Kalyn Ludwig said they came to BamaJam to see everyone.

“There’s so many entertainers here, but I like Miranda Lambert, so I’m really here to see her, but I do like almost everybody,” Ludwig said.

Royal said she wanted to see Corey Smith at the alternative stage, “but I also came for the funnel cakes, too.”

Wanda Lingo of Dothan and Mary Wise of Eufaula could be found around the front of the main stage.

“We’re here to have a good time and see all the performers,” Wise said. “We intend on enjoying every minute of it.”

Along the entrance as the crowd walked to the stage areas, around 50 vendors had booths advertising everything from an oxygen bar to T-shirts and a country cafeteria.

Bass Edge, an outdoor recreation television show in the United States and Canada, had the host of the program available to talk to festival-goers. Aaron Martin of Missouri, along with the Bass Edge crew, said they will film some of the show in Enterprise at BamaJam.

“We were thrilled to be invited by the BamaJam folks to such a neat event,” Martin said. “We’ll get to enjoy a lot of great music, meet the fans and sign some autographs.”

Martin said the show plans to film highlights of BamaJam to air during the Bass Edge’s 2009 season, which will show on Versus Country on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. locally.

Fan Mary Wise summed up BamaJam after the festival ended Sunday.

“We came here to see great performers, hear great music and have a great time. I think we did all of it.”