The little town of Carmine is known as “The Gateway To the Antique Festivals,” but for one night each year it morphs into casino land.
Party goers enjoyed a catered chicken fried steak dinner, desserts, bottles of wine donated by the Stokes family and the Carmine Chamber, and beer provided by Brown Distributing Company. Windmill Ranch pitched in with non-alcoholic beverages. Guests ate, drank and gambled the night away while German Alpine yodeling group Enzian Baum provided background music in keeping with the event’s theme.
“So many enjoyed this year’s theme that I’ve had two suggestions to keep it the German theme (for next year),” Carmine Chamber of Commerce president Marlene Waak tells RoundTop.com. “Past themes were also a lot of fun. We’ve had a ‘Toe-Tapp’n’ theme, which was Western with a wonderful young award-winning western swing singer, Kristyn Harris, ‘Shake, Rattle, & Roll’ with a very entertaining Elvis impersonator, and ‘Lucky 7’ with an extremely talented ventriloquist who put on a great show while we were all seated at our dinner tables.”
Funds raised by this year’s casino night will promote the little town of Carmine and its supporting businesses in the area through advertising and several online projects. The money also will be used for other local projects including the maintenance and improvement of the Carmine Museum and Visitor Center, Christmas decorations, educational and vocational scholarships for local kids, and social mixers. Funds also will go towards underwriting the Carmine Night Out Flag Retirement Ceremony.
Held on the first Thursday in October, the chamber retires Texas, United States and military flags donated by townspeople throughout the year with solemn fanfare. Members of the local 4-H youth agriculture group are tasked with properly folding the flags. Local and sometimes state dignitaries attend the ceremony to host talks and question and answer sessions while guests enjoy hot dogs and popcorn, children’s activities, and door prizes
This one casino night does a lot of good for the little town of Carmine and surrounding areas.