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Plans have been in the making for weeks for a luncheon, cocktail party and wedding rehearsal dinner in Salado to precede Jenna Bush’s wedding to Henry Hager today.
Hotel rooms are booked out. Restaurants are overflowing.
The president arrived by motorcade at about 6:45 p.m. riding past legions of American flags in a black limousine. Four official cars and a bevy of motorcycles and law enforcement vehicles accompanied him.
About 30 spectators who had gotten wind of the president’s arrival gathered at Main and Royal streets to gawk at the sight.
Annette Rice from Aubrey was in the crowd with her mother, Helen Rice, from Colorado. They had come to Salado to celebrate Mother’s Day together.
“This was totally unexpected,” the younger Ms. Rice said. “How exciting!”
The motorcade turned off Main into Royal Street and made its way to the Old Salado Springs Bed and Breakfast Celebration Room a block away.
Katherine Campbell, owner of the establishment, had been preparing a cocktail party for some 200 guests expected Friday evening.
Fourteen round tables arranged around the Celebration Center exuded a joyful spring-like appearance with their powder blue and white polka dot tablecloths and starched white underskirting. She said her client supplied the décor.
“I don’t know who they are,” Ms. Campbell said, asking the Telegram not to reveal her name and not to mention the planned event until it was over.
“But most live in Washington and some came down from Crawford. That’s all I know.”
A half block away from the Celebration Room three black Secret Service vehicles stayed parked out in front of the Silver Spur Theater on Friday afternoon. Neighboring business owners reported seeing many tables and chairs delivered to the theater during the day.
A man on a motorcycle eyed the activity.
“I’ve been told that’s where they will hold a wedding rehearsal dinner.”
Around the corner on Center Circle a luncheon was in progress at midday Friday at the Inn on the Creek. Ladies in flowing summer dresses visited on the open-air porches.
Hulda Horton, manager of the Salado Civic Center, said the event was a bridesmaids luncheon for the Jenna Bush wedding.
“That’s my understanding,” Ms. Horton said.
When asked who told her, she said the information came from a previous owner of the restaurant.
The Inn is an upscale B&B and trendy gourmet restaurant that faces Salado Creek. It’s made from a collection of late Victorian houses that were moved from around the area and refurbished.
Calls to the owner inquiring about the Jenna Bush luncheon were not returned.
Residents in Salado seemed to either be in the know or totally out of the loop about the Jenna Bush festivities. At the corner of Main and Royal, five out of six merchants knew nothing of the planned events even though they were within a few hundred feet of them. The planners had cleverly kept things under wraps. But the secrecy unraveled in the final 24 hours.
Artisan Les McCollin whose shop is a stone’s throw from the planned events said someone called him at 11 a.m. and filled him in.
“They said the rehearsal dinner would be at the Silver Spur Theater,” McCollin said. “I suspected something was up when I saw all the flags down Main Street.
Tyler Fletcher at Fletcher’s Books and Antiques rolled his eyes when asked about the events.
“Everyone is going nuts over this,” Fletcher said, laughing.
He said helicopters had been heard everyday over Salado the past three days -sometimes as early as 4 and 5 a.m.
Ann Faber said every hotel room in Salado was booked solid.
“This is the biggest story in Salado since Sam Houston delivered his address from the balcony of the Stagecoach Inn,” Ms. Faber said laughing. “This put us on the map, boy!”