(Press Release)

SALADO, TEXAS, (May 11, 2008) – John Grainger Esch, co-founder of the Silver Spur Theater (www.saladosilverspur.com) in the historic village and former stagecoach stop of Salado, TX, was “nonplussed” last September when Lindsey Lineweaver booked his venue for her wedding dinner and party on Friday, May 9. The Spur had hosted weddings, receptions and parties before.

That all changed about 3:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

“My first hint this dinner and party were related to the wedding for the daughter of the leader of the free world, was when a local policeman outside my box office inadvertently mentioned the name ‘Jenna’,” said Esch, an actor and former clown with the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

“When the Secret Service agents showed up minutes later with an explosives-sniffing German shepherd and they began barricading Royal Street, I had no doubt. Jenna Bush and Henry Hager’s highly private wedding was about to spill over from Crawford, Texas, to our historic village on the banks of Salado Creek.”

Indeed. The Silver Spur Theater would host 120 wedding party guests for a sit-down dinner. The Texas-sized celebration would add another 100 invited guests coming from the actual rehearsal and dinner elsewhere in the popular tourist destination straddling the creek and busy Interstate 35.

The additional guests included the betrothed couple as well as the President and First Lady. The father and mother of the bride visited the party for about 45 minutes “with little fanfare inside,” Esch said.

Meanwhile, outside, Salado police officers, Texas Highway Patrolmen, Bell County Sheriff’s deputies and Secret Service agents kept locals at bay and carefully checked residents trying to return to their nearby neighborhoods. Also present throughout the evening was Karl Rove, President Bush's former political consultant.

“Lineweaver” turned out to be a wedding planner for Jenna Bush. And now, eight months after that fateful phone call, “everything started getting very crazy.” Esch said.

“Suzy Evans, a friend of the Bush family, arrived with friends and began decorating the theater. In the usual ‘Coming Soon’ and ‘Now Showing’ spaces, they placed large photos of Henry and Jenna, respectively. And frankly, I don’t think the double entendre was intended.

“Between those, they also had a beautifully arranged photo montage of the wedding couple. Around the theatre they dangled clusters of bundled flower blooms or nosegays, some as large as a grapefruit, and all in various colors, perhaps to compliment the many pastel shades of the bridesmaids dresses to be worn on the wedding day,” Esch recounted.

Decorations, Food & Drink

Round tables were wrapped with burlap with a pastel ribbon pulling the cloth in tight underneath the table. Napkins and votive candle holders in Texas wildflower colors complemented the tables. Leather cowboy boots had been painted wildly and turned into vases containing multicolored Gerber daisies. Many tables had large sunflowers as their centerpiece.

Additional tables were even placed on the outside patios, including the covered portion in front of the box office window, giving the locals behind the barricades a bit more about which to buzz.

English-made candles burning in the bathrooms had a lime-basil scent.

Austin Catering of Austin, TX, provided the dinner, which began with hors d’oeuvres, included a Southwest Caesar salad, a jalapeño-flavored chicken, salmon, roasted potato wedges with chipotle sauce, ice tea and coffee. An avocado bar featured pitted avocado halves with salsa, cheese and other dressings.

Texas brewed Shiner Bock and the Mexican Dos Equis beers were plentiful, as well as a full complimentary bar. The party guests drank from clear plastic cups with “Jenna and Henry” imprinted on them in burnished gold.

The Spur Theater, which received the “2007 Business of the Year” award from the Salado Chamber of Commerce in January, was developed in the renovated and historic Guest & Sanford Granary & Feed Store five years ago. The exterior retains the old feed signs and native landscaping.

The property is owned by Morris Foster of Stagecoach Properties, which also has the famous Stagecoach Inn. The Inn dates back to 1861 and boasts a long list of notable visitors, from Texas General and Gov. Sam Houston to former White House Press Secretary Liz Carpenter, a Salado native.

The Silver Spur Theater strives to revive a bygone era of family entertainment, offering a trademark blend of live vaudeville acts, live music, plays and classic cinema. Weddings, reunions, business conferences, concerts, field trips, dances, even customized private shows are also held at the venue (capacity 210) , with catering available from the renowned Stagecoach Inn a block away and other area restaurants.

Typical show prices range from $8 to $15 or even up to $50 per person as the weekend before when Kinky Friedman and Texas Poet Laureate Steven Fromholz held a fundraiser for an animal rescue group. But on this Friday night, there was no buying a ticket. It was strictly invitation only and very private. No photos by the Spur staff were allowed once the event started.

The Couple, Entertainment

Slightly above it all, in the sound booth, Esch and Tony Blackman, Technical Director of the Silver Spur, observed the dinner and party, with the last guests leaving about midnight.

“Jenna wore a dress that was a sleeveless, v-neck white top,” Blackman recalled. “The skirt portion was black with a ruffle around the bottom. As for the crowd, I’ve never seen so many navy blue blazers and button-down shirts in one place.”

“Except for the security, President Bush and Laura Bush, the crowd was mostly twenty-somethings . . . a lot of young Republicans,” Esch added.

After the dinner, the tables in the center of the theater were cleared away to make a sizable dance floor. The Duke Merrick Band from Charlottesville, VA, played country and country rock and featured popular Texas songwriters during one portion of the party.

“Jenna Bush had even burned special CDs of country and modern rock songs that we played during the band’s breaks,” said Blackman. “So once the music and dancing began, it was practically nonstop.”

The Silver Spur Theater and Royal Street rocked on Friday night, May 9th, but with “American royalty.” A young couple, Jenna and Henry, who for all a nation’s curiosity and attention, simply wanted a memorable party with close friends and family in a small Central Texas town. . .an historic village that just added another chapter to his extensive lore of significant Texas events.

And the current show, which began its run the next night, was, appropriately, A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.” Two characters only tell the bittersweet story of their life-long relationship through their letters to each other. It runs for two more weekends (six performances) with different aged couples portraying the leads each weekend.

“Hopefully, Jenna and Henry’s love story will run for many, many years longer and with no intermissions,” quipped Esch.