MyWestTexas.com>West Texas town prepares for Kermit the Frog’s 50th on Friday
KERMIT — Things are hoppin’ in Kermit where on Friday residents expect to see their numbers swell by 600 percent in celebration of Kermit the Frog’s 50th birthday.
The town’s 5,466 people have been making preparations for the major celebration and Richard Abalos, a sergeant with the Kermit Police Department said as many as 30,000 visitors are expected. Among those — representatives with Walt Disney, who chose Kermit, Texas, over Kermit, Va., to begin a world tour in celebration of the frog’s 50th. Disney officials, Abalos said, have been in town helping prepare for the big party since Tuesday.
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Kermit will begin the day by reading to students at a local elementary school. A giant, inflatable Kermit will next be blown up, and Kermit will next be given a key to the city’ a depiction of the famed frog on the city’s water tower will be unveiled and the official renaming of one of the city street’s will also take place.Kermit will also crown this year’s homecoming queen, ride in the homecoming parade and participate in a pre-game pep rally.
A complete schedule can be found at Kermit Celebration Days.
And, in case you wondered,
Kermit the town is named after President Theodore Roosevelt’s son.
Okay, I have a visiting Kermit, TX story. You knew I did.
I was a teen during the Reagan years, and there were several tense times re the USSR (real commies, note). I was sitting on the throne in Kermit and heard the Civil Defense sirens go off, and thought “crud, the world ends and I’m on the toilet in Kermit, Texas”.
After a few moments and washing my hands, I went to the living room, no doubt white-faced, to face the bleak nuclear-bombed future, and everyone was completely calm. Eerily calm. Weirdly calm for people about to be incinerated by nukes.
“Did you hear the sirens” I asked, trying to get my elders to act. To do what, I had no idea, but I had to try.
“Yeah, they go off every day at noon” said my Kermit relative, both relieving and utterly humiliating me. Good news, no nuclear war, bad news, I looked like more of an idiot than a usual teen male can.
I hope everyone in Kermit has a good time, and that the visitors don’t get panicky when the sirens go off.
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Kermit the Frog!
