DOCUMENTARY FILM TO TAKE PLACE OF TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION IN 2021
A traditional Texas Independence Day celebration will not take place at Washington on the Brazos in 2021, but officials at the historic site still plan to commemorate the birth of Texas.
At Tuesday’s Washington County Commissioners meeting, Washington on the Brazos Historical Foundation President Cindi Smith announced that due to COVID-19, a normal celebration featuring historical demonstrations and musical performances will not be held.
In its place, preparations are underway to create a short documentary film currently titled “Here, a Nation was Born,” telling the story of what occurred at Washington on the Brazos during Texas’ fight for independence in 1836.
Washington on the Brazos Site Manager Jonathan Failor said he hopes to obtain quotes from students across the state on what it means to be a Texan and incorporate those quotes into the film. Once the film is released, he also wishes to distribute it to schools for use in Texas history classes.
Failor said while it was a difficult decision to not hold a traditional observation of Texas independence, event organizers did not feel they could responsibly handle large crowds under current restrictions.
The film will be approximately 30 minutes in length, and will be produced by Gary Foreman of Native Sun Productions. Filming is set to begin in late January or early February, and is expected to take about a week to complete.
Upon the film’s premiere on March 2, 2021, the film will be broadcast on Facebook Live and uploaded to YouTube.
Update @ 8:15 a.m. Friday: At Tuesday's meeting, commissioners approved a budget amendment to the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) fund for the 2019-20 Fiscal Year. This budget amendment allocates $55,647 to the City of Brenham, $20,000 of which will be awarded to Washington on the Brazos for the 2021 Independence Day Celebration campaign. Meanwhile, $35,647 will be awarded for a Washington County Tourism Recovery Campaign, as previously approved by the HOT Board. No additional HOT funds need to be disbursed by the county, as the $55,647 is already in the city’s restricted cash balance.
The $20,000, according to Smith, will be used for the creation of the movie, which she said will act as a "digital advertising tool to draw people to the historic site and Washington County." She said since this movie will be shown on YouTube and other social media outlets, its distribution will reach beyond the normal range of the site's usual advertising market. She said the site is hoping for an audience of at least 130,000 viewers.
Too soon to declare this. Was going to come down for this event… but nope: fear wins. Miss that cake… though probably as well as I lost a dear friend who was a regular exhibitor there this year – Eddie Harrison.
Logic fails to comprehend this decision except deep down its financial. Tickets could be sold and quotas/distancing maintained. The cake could’ve been skipped I guess or just done as cupcakes.
I’m disappointed because reality is: We’re never going to get rid of this virus folks – and we pass viruses daily, mask or not. That’s first grade health.
But if the county wishes to make the choice in the of “safety” by all means, do so.
But when taxes go up even further due to lost revenue: ESPECIALLY an event one can distance, remember, it was based for safety and health.
HHMMMM, wonder if this will actually happen or if it will be like the filming of The Burning of Brenham that we are still waiting on.
I would surmise that it’ll be like a Ken Matthews production:
Either they run a recording of the show they did at WOTB couple of years ago for dialog and insert narrating/photo stills… or just narration, comments and stills/artifacts.
It’s just with the park wide spread… and means to control the total attendees… there’s no reason to do this UNLESS it’s deep down financial.
People are smarter than they’re letting us think we are.
As far as burning of Brenham? That was proposed 4 years ago I think. Last update I found – on KWHI – was that it has hit a snag in 2017.
From what I can see RB productions is still there, I wouldn’t hold my breath it’ll be produced.
Seems only Patriotic and religious events are “fundamentally changed”, at all levels, quite often voluntarily, ironically.
That’s 4 months out. Won’t everybody be protected by the vaccine by next March ?
It’s good the founders of Texas didn’t act like we to do today, or we wouldn’t have a TEXAS.
While I will miss what is annually a wonderful weekend celebrating Texas independence, this will be a very worthwhile project that will be a treasure for a very long time. Best of luck with this film.