Crawford left out of Bush wedding action
All of the action is at President Bush's 1,600-acre ranch seven miles outside this one-stoplight town.
Friday night's rehearsal dinner was even farther away — 54 miles from the ranch in a town called Salado, meaning the more than 200 Bush family and friends invited to the nuptials might never even set foot in downtown Crawford.
"It's a private ceremony. It's an exciting time for the Bush family," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Friday. "They're all beginning to converge here in Texas and in Crawford and I know the president and Mrs. Bush are really looking forward to this weekend."
The bride, first lady Laura Bush and daughter Barbara weren't even in Crawford most of Friday. Early in the day, the three attended a bridal lunch for family and friends at an inn in Salado, more than an hour's drive south of Crawford. They spent the day in the small tourist village, founded before the Civil War, getting ready for the evening events. The president made his way solo to Salado.
There the parents of the groom, Henry Hager, hosted the rehearsal dinner for members of the family and the wedding party at the Old Salado Springs Celebration Center in the heart of the town filled with coffee shops, western-style stores, antiques, eateries and clothing shops.
With no hotels in Crawford, local residents are more likely to welcome tourists who just want to say they were here when Jenna married her longtime boyfriend. The locals don't seem to mind playing a supporting role.
"It's amazing how many people just want to be in the area," said Marilyn Judy, president of the Crawford Chamber of Commerce. She recounted a call from a woman in Dallas, a two-hour drive from Crawford.
"I asked 'Oh, are you going to be going to the wedding?"' Judy asked. The woman replied: "No, I just want to be in town when it's happening."'
It wasn't until late this week that the downtown began to show signs of the event, which will end up in presidential history books.
A white banner with red wedding bells on either side of "Congratulations Jenna and Henry" now stretches across a local storefront.
A few doors down, a white wedding veil adorns an 18-foot metal sculpture of an angel, a gift to Crawford in 2004. The rusty artwork, a side-view silhouette of an angel, is titled "Freedom's Angel of Steadfast Love." It was created by Lei Hennessy-Owen of Jennerstown, Pa., and given to the city after Bush's reelection.
Recent comments
the Crawfordians could put up a big banner saying "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...
Maybe.... | May 10, 2008 at 7:14 p.m.
