On Sunday, March 8, Trace Woolverton thought that she and boyfriend Willie Hunt would leave the Reba McEntire concert with nothing but good memories. In the end, she did get them — and also a ring.
Hunt, working with opening act Caroline Kole, proposed to Woolverton in front of tens of thousands of people at the Florida Strawberry Festival’s Wish Farms Soundstage. She was shocked, and nearly overwhelmed, but quick to say, ‘Yes.’
“I had no idea this was gonna happen, and I’m glad it happened, and I could not have shared it with better people, a beautiful young lady (Caroline Kole) and her boss now, Reba,” Woolverton said.
For Hunt, this was a project three months in the making. When he learned that Woolverton had gotten the concert tickets for Christmas, he realized that Kole, a local favorite, would be the opening act. Since he and Woolverton are friends of the Koles, Hunt decided to try and make his proposal a special one.
“It was a little bit after Christmas,” Hunt said. “I talked to her mother and gave her the idea of what I wanted to do, and she said it shouldn’t be a problem. That’s what we did.”
After Kole had finished playing several songs, she announced to the crowd that she had been contacted by some of her friends and asked to play “Guy I’m Gonna Marry,” specifically for this moment.
“It was so funny because, when she said, ‘I was contacted by some friends of mine, and he’s gonna propose to his girlfriend,’ that’s when I looked over like, ‘Could this be,’” Woolverton said. “I’m like, ‘No, he wouldn’t do this.’ And I look, and there he is with a ring in his hand. I’m like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I couldn’t even breathe.”
She describes her fiance as a “very private person,” and it sounds as though that helped him keep the proposal idea a secret for three months. Even Woolverton’s parents had no idea it was going to happen until Kole started the song, and thousands of heads turned in the couple’s direction.
“The song that Caroline sang, it’s taken a real special place in my heart,” Woolverton said. “I guess he knew this, and here we are.”
Hunt was pleased that his idea went exactly as planned — especially the end result.
“It takes a little while, when you get to know someone, and then you start planning,” Hunt said. “You just have to put your cards on the table and go for it.”
And Woolverton couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the couple’s Strawberry Festival experience.
“I guess I’ve got 50,000 new fans,” she said.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.