The First Annual Friends of Conroe Golf Tournament was held on September 13 at Wedgewood Golf Course on Highway 105 W. According to Jo Ann Carter, Secretary of the Friends of Conroe, the purpose of the tournament was to provide funds to bring top-name bands to the Fourth Annual Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival to be held in October. The tournament had 88 entries at $70.00 per entry. Trophies were awarded to first, second and third place team winners. A $50.00 cash prize was awarded to Don Carter for coming closest to hole #17. Mr. Carter donated the his prize back to the Friends plus $50.00 and it was auctioned. Mark Peters won the $50.00 cash prize for coming closest to hole #10 and he also won a $50.00cash prize for the longest drive on hole #18. Hal Griffin won the $50.00 cash prize for the longest hole on hole #18. Fourteen door prizes were given away including two 24K gold putters donated by Smith Honda, six rounds of golf for four at area country clubs, stereo headphones donated by Home Entertainment, Inc., and a $50.00 gift certificate to the Wedgewood Pro Shop. Drinks were provided to the players on the course by Silver Eagle and Coca-Cola. An excellent catfish dinner was served by Vernon’s Kuntry Katfish and prizes were awarded following dinner. This was the first golf tournament of the Friends of Conroe and Jo Ann Carter was pleased with the turnout. “For our first tournament, it was better than wonderful. Our hope is that everyone had fun and is looking forward to next year.” The Fourth Annual Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival will be held October 15, 16 and 17th in downtown Conroe. The goal of the festival is to provide funds for the beautification of Conroe and community projects, and ultimately to build a civic center here. The festival began in 1990 with this goal in mind, and according to Carter, “everyone said it couldn’t be done”. But that first festival had an attendance of 25,000. Last year’s attendance was 35,000 and this year-the sky’s the limit! The golf tournament was successful in bringing in the necessary funds for the bands, so here is a line-up of scheduled bands for the three days: Friday-Will LeBlanc and the Bayou Boys, Roddy Romero, Bert Wills and the Crying Shame, Miss Molly and the Whips and the Jim Ponder Band and Frenchy Burke. Saturday-Lionel Stew, the Sam Brothers, Chubby Karrie, Zachary Richard, Global Village, Sisters Morales, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Jimmy Thackery, Rodney Lake, Shake Russell and John Saunders, Rio Bravo and Hickory. Sunday-Bayou Roux, Joe Douglas, the KILT Band, Highway 101, the Fab Five and Hot Cakes. Three days of continuous music on three stages is planned. In addition, according to Wayne Vaughan, Treasurer of the Friends of Conroe, there will be 18 food booths set up, each with different kinds of food for a total of 75 food items. Saturday at 10:00 A.M. a parade with floats will begin circling the downtown square. Sunday at 3:00 the Friends will holda dance contest. There will also be a carnival, hunting and fishing exhibits with a live catfish tank, arts and crafts exhibits and a circus village for children with clowns and a petting zoo. The whole festival sounds like a whole lot of fun for everyone. Hope to see you there!
