Don't feed the animals.
Way back in 1994 I attended my first ever Jimmy Buffett concert. A large group of us, who worked at Opryland Themepark at the time, got together and purchased tickets to the show at Starwood Amphitheater. The "grass pass" was just $10 and on the day of the concert, our "Jimmy Buffett Party" was born.
We did it again in 1995, but in '96 and '98 there were no shows scheduled in Nashville. Those years the party was known as the "Annual Jimmy Buffett Party (concert not included)".
When he came back to Nashville in '97 and '99 he played the Nashville Arena in late winter. Those years each saw two Jimmy Buffett Parties. There was the one party on the day of the show and another party during the summer months.
In 2000 we hit the road for the Cincinnati, Ohio show at Riverbend Music Center. Jimmy did not return to Nashville, or to Starwood Amphitheater, again until 2003 which was the first Buffett show Gayle and I attended together, just a couple months after our wedding.
In 2006 we traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for the show at the Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater. In February of 2007, Gayle and I bought our boat and named her "Jolly Mon", after the title character in one of Buffett's songs.
Jimmy had trimmed his touring schedule down and did not play Nashville again until 2010, the same day as the "Great Nashville Flood". Our ticket price for the 2010 show were $160 each. A far cry from the $10 lawn tickets 16 years earlier. Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville: Nashville opened in the fall of that year.
Throughout the years our Jimmy Buffett Party remained an annual event, regardless whether there was a show or not. After moving all over the calendar, our party eventually found a permanent spot on the calendar on the second Saturday of July.
We bought our house in the spring of 2004. "Stephen and Gayle's Barber Shop, Bar and Grill" was the name we gave to our garage. The first garage improvement was a refrigerator, which soon became a kegerator. Many friends have hung out in the garage and many beers have been drank there, too. The annual Buffett party has been held here since 2004.
We started off with around 10 to 20 attendees. In the most recent years, attendance has reached an average of around 100 guests!
