Beaumont City Council issued a proclamation Tuesday (April 29) recognizing Saturday, May 3, as “Celebrate Lamar University Day.”
Lamar University President James Simmons led a Lamar delegation for activities marking the 2008 Red, White & You celebration – designed to emphasize Lamar’s role as an asset to the community and the part it plays in the lives of individuals and institutions throughout the region.
The observance of Red, White & You Week, April 28-May 3, will culminate Saturday when the Jimmy Simmons & Friends Encore jazz concert brings an all-star lineup of alumni musicians together with their former teacher, band director and mentor – now Lamar’s 10th president. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Montagne Center.
Simmons, joined by the Lamar Ambassadors, presented City Council members with special gifts in honor of the occasion. Lamar faculty musicians performed a preview of the Simmons & Friends Encore concert.
“Lamar University is in a period of continuous and strategic improvement, heightened opportunity and exciting change, making the university an educational institution recognized throughout the nation and state,” according to the proclamation. As the only comprehensive research university in the region, it continues, Lamar is “well positioned to provide ongoing leadership and leverage new technologies in order to attract key business and industry to Southeast Texas.”
Furthermore, says the proclamation, “The city of Beaumont and Lamar University have a long history of partnership in promoting regional economic development and enhancing the cultural life of the region,” and the Jimmy Simmons & Friends Encore concert will celebrate Lamar’s “unique and critical relationship with Beaumont and the Southeast Texas community.”
The encore results from a Red, White & You performance Feb. 28, 2005, when many of the alumni musicians gathered to mark the last event in McDonald Gym before its renovation.
“We thought it would be successful, but we had no idea,” Zabala said. “The response we received from the many people who attended and who bought the CDs has been amazing. They have been asking us ever since: ‘When are you going to do this again?’
Campus and community are coming together with the week-long observance to celebrate their pride in Lamar, with the Jimmy Simmons & Friends Encore as the highlight.
“People will really enjoy the music. They will enjoy the spectacle.,” Zabala said. “So you should go for the great music. You should go for the pride in Lamar University. You should go for the dancing and the fun. And you should go for a special announcement you’ll hear that night.
“We have never been positioned this well in our history,” Zabala said. “This is the culmination of an amazing few years.”
Table seating on the floor of the center is sold out for the Jimmy Simmons & Friends Encore, but plenty of seats remain on the concourse level, with tickets priced at $10 per person. Lamar University faculty and staff may reserve two seats each at no charge, and LU students will be admitted free with validated identification. Snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Dress is casual.
To order tickets, call the Lamar Office of Alumni Affairs, phone (409) 880-8921, or visit the office in Building B of the John Gray Center, 855 E. Florida Ave. in Beaumont. Tickets also will be available May 3 at the Montagne Center box office. For additional information, email alumni@lamar.edu or visit www.lamar.edu.
