GC Caravan stops tonight in Ocala

A little barbeque and a lot of Florida Gators football talk will be on the menu tonight at the Marion County Gator Club’s annual get-together at the Central Florida Community College’s Ewers Century Center on State Road 200 Thursday, July 30. It will be the second straight stop this week for the Gator Country Caravan led by Buddy Martin and Franz Beard.

Gator Gathering 2009, a chance for Gator fans in Marion County to talk some football and help send some deserving students from the county to Gainesville, begins with a social hour and shopping spree at 5:30 p.m. in the Ewers Century Center. Attendees will be able to get the latest in Gator gear for the upcoming season. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. with a panel discussion at 7 p.m. featuring the GatorCountry.com gang of Martin, Beard, former Gator turned sportscaster Brady Ackerman and recruiting coordinator Justin Wells.

Also planning an appearance are Marion County’s own Brantley brothers—former football Gators John and Scot. John, of course, is now the head football coach at Class 2B power Ocala Trinity Catholic High School, while brother Scot, an All-American for Florida and later an NFL standout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is a long-time broadcaster of Bucs and Gators football when he isn’t bragging about his nephew, current Gators quarterback Johnny Brantley III.

There will be a live auction with tickets for the coming season and raffles galore to help fund the Marion County scholarships. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children and are available at Greiner’s and Duggan, Joiner & Company, CPAs. For more information, contact Brenda Horne at 352-732-0171.

This will be the Gator Country Caravan’s sixth stop on its summer tour through Florida and the Southeast. Large crowds already have greeted Buddy Martin and his friends at Pensacola, Altamonte Springs, Flagler County, Tampa and Clermont, where last night more than 100 fans crowded into Gator’s Dockside, and also in Birmingham and Huntsville during last week’s SEC Media Days.