The List

ShopAcrossTexas.com posted its TOP 45, and guess who made the list...Root! The site scoured the state, from big cities to small towns, and covered all types of retail, including gift, home, and apparel stores. Ballots were emailed to 45,000 homes and the list was officially revealed on ShopAcrossTexas.com in August. Wait! There's more...5 of the 45 are located in Fredericksburg (Red, Homestead, Beulah's, Something Different II, and your's truly) and our perfect little town won the prestigious award for Best Shopping in a Small Town! With the help and encouragement of ShopAcrossTexas, we entered a float in the Gillespie County Fair Parade. We gathered merchandise from all five shops and piled it high on Sean's vintage pickup for a Sanford & Son Goes Cruisin' Main theme. Nothing fell off, the goods all made it back to their respective storefronts, and we, hard-working, hardly-rewarded retailers pulled off a little shameless self-promotion.

Other highlights from the parade included mini ponies, a bright turquoise tractor, the cheerleaders (especially Alli), this precious pooch, the Sit-And Be Fit Ladies, a 3-day old DiCuffa snuggled in a sling and his visibly sleep deprived big brothers, and Willa doing the Roll-It-Up to the blaring music.