Kris Allen wins American Idol, Conway rejoices!

Well, for all of you living in the states who actually bothered to watch television, the adventure (or is that 'the pain'?) is over. For us here in Conway, Arkansas, it's just beginning: Kris Allen won American Idol. To say people went nuts around here would be to understate considerably. There were screaming crowds. There were fireworks. People streamed out of their houses (I am not kidding here) to see the fireworks being set off downtown. It was amazing. To give you some idea of how gushingly excited the local broadcaster's evening newscast was after the event, I captured the front page of their website. Notice any themes? They, and again, I am not joking, tracked down his kindergarten teacher to do an interview, as well as his high school music teacher.

I've never really followed this stuff before, so I don't really know what Allen's victory means for the town (other than free cheese). I imagine he's off for a year of breakneck promotions, concerts, and whatever, and then either he's a star, or he comes home and returns to life as usual (I honestly doubt that will happen). Either way it's been an interesting ride, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

Interesting tidbit: reportedly there were one hundred million votes cast in the final showdown. Thirty-eight million of them were from Arkansas (a state with a population of less than three million people). We take our Idol seriously down here!