Montgomery Freedom Fest/Hurricane Beryl Bookend Patriotic Weekend

MONTGOMERY, TX -- Montgomery had an interesting weekend, with its Freedom Fest on Saturday in Historic Montgomery, while Hurricane Beryl’s arrival on the coast early Monday morning greeted citizens of Montgomery County by mid-morning with tropical force strength winds, and some gusts near hurricane strength, which downed tree limbs, cut power to thousands, knocked over fences, crashed in a roof or two with tree falls, and flung a few shingles from their roofly perches. Most importantly, the internet was down, forcing this reporter to seek out the nearest McDonalds on I-45 and League Line Road and parts unknown, to find a working wi-fi system, in able to file this week’s reports.

Saturday morning marked the annual Montgomery Freedom Fest parade, with the streets being lined before 9am, with citizens eagerly awaiting the beginning of festivities in Historic Montgomery. There were also many booths and games for the kids surrounding the Montgomery Community Building. The fest coincided with Montgomery’s First Saturday homemade goods market which was held on the grounds of the community building, resulting in activities literally surrounding the campus. Following the parade, many citizens searched for a mix of items from BBQ rubs, paintings, custom t-shirts, candles, etc., coupled with booths for chiropractors, GOP women, and everything in between.

About half of The Montgomery Community Band gave a preview of their Sunday concert in the Community Building parking lot. They started the parade by playing the National Anthem, which gave a hint that would follow on Sunday. The band finished off their preview with ‘The Colonel Bogey March,’ which delighted many in the crowd, with the catchy tune from World War I Britain. The MCB would play their concert at the Lake Creek High School on the following day.

The parade itself lasted about 15 minutes, with fewer numbers of participants this year, but spirits were still high. The Montgomery County Jeep Society had a large contingent of Jeep owners driving through, as well as other organizations. Many parade goers found shade from buildings on McCown and Liberty Streets, and enjoyed the marchers and vehicles as they passed by. Campaign supporters of Senator Ted Cruz led the way through the streets to great applause and cheer.

The kids most certainly enjoyed the games available on the Jim’s Hardware side of the community building. There was something for everyone with several food trucks on station to cater to anyone’s culinary needs. The festival goers on their way out would visit Historic Montgomery shops. Slish of Amish, and General Manager Angie Miller, had a steady stream of patrons craving the shop’s legendary grilled cheese baskets, which has customers picking their choice of the dozens of cheeses available, hot and mild, and coupled with their choice of drink.

The damage from Hurricane Beryl was for all intents and purposes lite, given its history that the storm was previously a Category 5 storm in the Caribbean Sea just days ago. And considering the alternative, taking a minor Category 1 storm on the upper Texas Coast is a GodSend compared to the destruction of the islands of the lower Caribbean island chain last week. Still, Montgomery County had varying types of damage, with thankfully very instances of major damage resulting in the destruction of some vehicles. One house in Roxton Forest Estates had a tree come down on it.

By noon on Monday, Entergy had reported approximately 201,000 of their customers were without power mainly located in Montgomery, Jefferson, Walker, and Liberty counties. Kevin Barnes, owner of the Kemifor Atrium Building reported no significant damage in Historic Montgomery. The City of Conroe reported some trees down and other sporadic reports of damage. Lake Conroe had boats that were damaged and some adrift, but otherwise it fared well.

Sadly a 74-year-old grandmother died in North Harris County, when a tree feel on a roof, collapsing it, and crushing the woman in her room. And several other deaths were reported during to carbon dioxide inhalation when dealing with generators.

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