When I first heard that the Fall Back Festival, one of the neatest events offered in Port Aransas, was not going to be in the “la playa” area of Pelican’s Landing, I was bummed.

Several attempts to find a venue in Old Town were unsuccessful, unfortunately, because Fall Back has such a funky Old Town charm to it.

We have friends who just built a home in Old Town, and were looking forward to walking to Fall Back after years of driving in from North Padre Island – and back. Talk about raining on their parade! Bummer!

Well, it’s not going to be in Old Town and we’re going to have to get over it.

So, take a deep breath and clear your head.

Fall Back is going to be in a really cool location, albeit on the outskirts of town, on the grounds of the C Bar Café at Cinnamon Shore. The only drawback is the drive, and there are at least two solutions to that.

The first solution is to take a bus that the festival is providing from Pelican’s Landing. It will leave at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. The return trips will be made at 9:30, 10, 10:30 and 11 p.m. It’s free except for a tip for the driver. How cool is that? Play your cards right, and that could be a fringe benefit of the festival.

Your other option is to take a cab, and in Port Aransas, cabs are really reasonable.

Oh yeah, the third option, which is always an option: Appoint a DD (designated driver).

The setting is going to be gorgeous. The C Bar Café is situated on the perimeter of a grassy circle surrounded by a low fence, with openings interspersed throughout the circumference. In that circle is grass (no stickers!), and the band will set up in the middle. Tables and chairs will be scattered about so you can sit and eat and drink and talk and listen to the music (if you can keep from dancing) .

That’s another thing. The band. Last year I had no idea how good they would be. I thought they’d be playing tunes from the 30s, 40s and 50s (which is fine by me). Well, there might have been some 50s tunes in there, but they rocked the house with 60s music and beyond. People were singin’ and dancin’ and laughin’!

Fall Back is a wine tasting, but if you’re not into wine, you’ll be able to buy beer and cocktails, just as you did when it was held at Pelican’s Landing.

It’s doubtful the festival will be able to return to Old Town unless Pelican’s Landing decides to eliminate the playground they just put in. The other venues discussed are not available for this type of event, or would not accommodate it properly. To my knowledge, there are no other options.

So, let’s embrace the new location and go have a good time for a good cause – the Port Aransas Community Theatre.

See y’all there!

Mary Henkel Judson is editor and copublisher of the South Jetty. Contact her at southjetty@centurytel.net, (361) 749-5131 or P.O. Box 1117, Port Aransas, TX 78373.