It's down-home efforts that make life enjoyable in Abilene

There are big productions, and there are big efforts.

There's a difference.

Not everything needs to be a big production. Sometimes, what is most appreciated is the effort that goes into an event.

For example, the recent spelling bee at the Paramount Theatre, organized by the Kiwanis Club of Abilene. Or the Abilene Idol contest, also held there this year.

And there's last weekend's inaugural Everything Texas event at the Abilene Woman's Club. It celebrated Texas Independence Day, just a day or two later.

The club, if you don't know, is located in the grand brick building on South 14th Street, west of River Oaks Shopping Center It was designed by noted Abilene architect David S. Castle, so it's historic. There's a historical marker on the wall to prove that.

The club has teetered on closing, its day as a center of society perhaps having passed.

But through sheer will, club members have rallied. They have not given into change.

Want proof? How about choosing a Black woman to lead the organization. Back in the day, the women who were members likely had a Black woman working for them at home. So to have a Black woman - Dorothy Drones - lead the way is significant.

They've tried to rebrand themselves as a community gathering place, not just having the fancy clubhouse to themselves.

Beto O'Rourke made a campaign stop there. Of course, Beto never has been to the same place twice in Abilene and once addressed a crowd near the No. 5 hole at Play Faire Park, the miniature golf course. The Abilene Woman's Club was quite the contrast.

This year, the club organized two nights of fun to celebrate Texas.

The first night brought an Austin-based comedy troupe to town for a show called "Boomtown," about the heyday of Borger, an oil town in the Panhandle, in the 1920s. The show drew a nice crowd that enjoyed history mixed with humor.

The next night, it was the dance music of Jody Nix. Nix is as Texas as it gets, and he kept dancers on the floor song after song. And not only on the smooth, temporary dance floor that night but, because the night was so nice and the doors were open, and couples even scooted their boots outside on the patio.

Both events were great but better were the extras. At least a dozen Texas-themed gift baskets were raffled. A snack bar offered chocolate from an Austin company. You could drink sweet tea, a Shiner or Lone Star beer.

For purchase in the lobby were Texas T-shirts, King Ranch casserole, chili and tiny wooden birdhouses colored like the Texas flag. How about a buttermilk pie?

These two nights were hardly slick. Rather, each was endearing for the effort the women put into it.

And they were thrilled to see folks come out. So much so that they want to do it again.

With word-of-mouth publicity, this could draw twice the crowd.

Not sure we have the space, one woman remarked.

Well, there's the south-side patio, where candles in star-shaped containers flickered in the night and one man smoked a cigar under a waning gibbous - not neon - moon.

But this being March in Texas, you never know what the weather will be like. Next year it could be a blizzard.

Bottom line, like the Celebration Singers events at the Paramount, it's a down-home evening that showcases how effort, talent and wanting to do something fun can mix successfully.

It's the formula that has made the Children's Art and Literacy Festival a hit each June. And our city will see next month with Pioneer Drive Baptist Church's Easter pageant. Both also qualify as productions.

Ten-gallon hats off to the women who made the Independence Weekend event happen.

They didn't make history; they kept it alive.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: It's down-home efforts that make life enjoyable in Abilene