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If any of you don’t watch American Idol, the show is down to the final three contestants. The last three are Adam, Danny Gokey, and Kris Allen. All guys…seems like it has been that way the last couple of years. I think it’s because girls vote a lot, but who knows.

Near the end of the American Idol television season, the producers take each contestant to their hometown for a day of filming to see where a star is born. Before Kris got big on American Idol, he was a student at the University of Central Arkansas, in Conway, Arkansas. My alma mater and the city I was born in.

So American Idol sent Kris Allen back to his “hometown” for a parade and a few mini-concerts. (By the way, he’s 23 years old, hasn’t graduated college yet, and so I reserve the right to call him “kid”. ) I’m pretty sure each time American Idol does this, it turns into a circus. It’s probably a pretty smart move of American Idol to do this with the last three contestants, not for the ‘get to know ya’ material, not for the boost to the local economies, but for the sake of the kid in the competition.

They’ve been living in a bubble in LA,  seven days a week being commited to the program and rehearsals. When Kris got to the Little Rock airport, arriving in a private plane, he commented that he was blown away by the response he got when on his way to an interview at a local Fox station. The news station had fans lining the way from the buildings entrance all the way to the studio, so Kris had his first experience at clinging to the back of a police officer/body guard to keep safe from the mob.

The next morning, after three hours asleep (so he said on a radio interview), he made his way to a radio station complex where he was interviewed by four radio stations under one roof. His handlers then whisked him across town to an Alltel phone store for mini-concert #1. This wasn’t publicized the day before, so the crowd was pretty small.

Next, whisked off to mini-concert #2. This was a publicized concert, but it was at 11:30 a.m. so the crowd was fairly light with attendance projected to be 2,000 fans. Among them, my sister-in-law…so I hope to see pictures soon.

So Kris gets mobbed at Fox station, gets a taste of fame at the radio stations, and has a couple of concerts. His crowds aren’t as big as the crowds on the American Idol stage yet, but these are devoted fans for just him, not to be shared with Danny or Adam, so I’m sure the noise level and excited energy is heightened.

Next stop for Kris Allen was up the highway to Conway, Arkansas. The University of Central Arkansas was smart enough to jump on the concert bandwagon. They gave away tickets to an indoor venue, one per person, first come, first serve. I heard they gave all the tickets away within 30 minutes, but I’m pretty sure it only took that long because the ticket counter couldn’t just toss 1000 tickets in the air and let them fall from the sky.

So mini-concert #3! This is indoors, at a place that doesn’t really seat a huge crowd. But it was nice to do it at his college. After that ~ There was still MORE!!

The city was expected to have a parade! The chamber of commerce was really excited to do that and so scheduled it for right before mini-concert #4!!

For the last concert of the day, it was an outdoor venue at a city park, which happens to be downtown Conway. By this time, school is out, business are closed, everyone wants to see the boy from Conway who has made it to the top three on American Idol. I hope Kris was warmed up and ready after his earlier concerts, because this time, in the great outdoors, there was no holding back the crowd. They estimated about 20,000 people showed up to hear him sing three songs. WOW!

Throughout the course of the day, he also managed to visit the Governor’s mansion, and probably had an audience with Conway’s mayor to officially make it “Kris Allen Day” and give the keys away to the city or state or something.

Now, I don’t know how the whole thing will be edited for next week’s show, but I do hope that by the end of the day, Kris had glimpsed his future, and finally realized what’s in store for him.

Go Kris! Win American Idol!!