Twice a year, the city of Cleburne hosts Antique Alley. Locals clear out their closets and vendors set out their crafts, candles and all manner of crap (collectibles rare and precious) for miles and miles of sales. The majority of The Rockin’ Rooster employees were in attendance last weekend.
We all met up at the Liberty hotel in downtown Cleburne. It’s a beautifully restored building owned by the Choice chain. The rooms were very nice and cozy with plenty of room for a Bicknell Cousin Jamboree later in the evening. The Bicknell’s have lived in and around Cleburne for 100 years and have a special bond with the town. They remembered walking downtown and getting candy at Duke & Ayres for only a nickel and told me stories as we browsed through several antique stores near the square.
As the storm clouds gathered in the central Texas skies… so did the Bicknell cousins. We made a grand tour of the cemetery in search of their four-legged Great-Grandmother Bicknell. With directions from Gary, we were able to locate her grave.
Another cemetery and another search for family members and we worked up a powerful hunger so it was off to Susannah’s for fine family dining and a surprise contingent of even more Bicknell’s joined in the fun! Uncle Gene and Aunt Sheila joined Lynda, Theresa, Robbie, Shelly and I. Uncle Gene reminded me so much of Lynda and Theresa’s daddy, Joe, that a think a few noses started to hurt a little bit. Dessert was crustless cobbler and even more cousins. Little one’s this time. Funny little ones.
Stories, competitions and some questionable brags were exchanged back at the hotel. The little cousins were very entertaining. It was fun to get them all riled up and then send them on their way. I wonder if they ever slow down?
Rise and shine and hit the booths. Check. I was a nervous nelly driving between the cars parked on the sides of the road, but we made our way bravely to the first stop. I believe that Theresa made the first buy of the day. But Lynda made the first friend!
Our newest best friend was in the next stop and her name was Peggy. She told us all about her booth and how many times she’s been there and how nice the people are and how much money she makes and that’s her son across the path and he does really well and a man two booths down from her was not going to come back for the one in September and who to contact to see if we could get a booth and how clean they kept it there and lots more. So we called and we got a booth RIGHT NEXT TO Peggy for the next Antique Alley! Drinks for everyone!
We all found something that we couldn’t live without and packed up our treasures and headed to Glen Rose for lunch and then home for lots of rest because a ROOSTER WORK DAY was on the calendar for the next day.
Rise and shine and get the banking done. Check. Stop by the raging Paluxy River and skip stones with a little rooster. Check.
Meet up with everybody at the Rooster’s coop to exchange ideas, work on technology, mow yards, work in the shop, laser leather and play video games. Check. We even made a quick trip to Hico to pick up branding irons and eat at Lilly’s! Discount Double Check!
We have had a great start of 2015 for sales and are very grateful for our new customers. We have learned more than we knew before. We have made plans and adjustments and dreams for the next few months.
We are roosters, hear us crow!
