Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > March > 05 > Entry
Very late report: Independence Day at Bullock Texas State History Museum
The Bob Bullock Texas History Museum is not like any other institution in town. And the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum Foundation is a charity unlike any other. So, no wonder the foundation’s Texas Independence Day Dinner is an event unto itself. Formal, in a nervous way, and earnest, in a winning way.
This year, the honorees were former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush. They were named History Making Texans, a rather awkward title, but not undeserved. Attending the ceremony on Tuesday in numbers were state’s Republican establishment, along with various bigwigs, ambassadors and other dignitaries.
This was the first event wherein a state trooper’s bomb dog sniffed my camera. Once that ritual was completed, I mingled with the non-VIPs in the museum’s rotunda, as the big shots slowly descended for dinner and formalities. I talked with the Texas Cultural Trust’s Amy Barbee about the Texas Medal of the Arts nominating process. If that group did nothing else (it does), it stirs up conversation about which Texans deserve eternal representation (yes, Marques, we talked about Tom Ford).
I also talked with Donna Stockton Hicks about growing up in the Mid-Cities (she attended the same high school as Kip) and about the upcoming Rise Across Texas fundraiser. Would she ride a bicycle across the state, like her husband, Steve Hicks? “I’ll be in the bus with the cupcakes,” she said. I met some other folks who made my mid-evening — between the Entrepreneurs Foundation’s Independence Day fun and “Fiddler on the Roof” — merry.
I couldn’t stay for the actual speeches, which the Statesman’s Isadora Vail faithfully recorded. Folks interested in 43’s state of mind during the ceremony should consult new video of the event. Telling.
Sorry, no photos. I cleared out my iPhoto during my otherwise accommodating Apple One to One session today. First time that’s happened.
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