Scotty Watch: Dispatches from Scotty Day in Garner

We have full Scotty Team coverage of the 'American Idol' hopeful's triumphant return to Garner today.

Staff writers Thad Ogburn, David Menconi, and Sarah Nagem, along with photographers Ethan Hyman and Robert Willett, will be reporting from various Scotty McCreery activities. See 192 photos from the first half of Scotty's busy day. (Here's more info on what Scotty will be up to today. And also, check out our Scotty Watch page for all of our past Scotty McCreery coverage).

8 a.m., WQDR in Raleigh:  Thad Ogburn reports from the country music radio station WQDR that about 400 McCreerians were waiting in the parking lot for Scotty, many holding signs. Some people had been in the parking lot since 5:30 a.m.

A few of the "biggest fans" who had made cool costumes were allowed to go into the studio to meet Scotty. Two girls -- Ashley Scott, a sophomore at North Raleigh Christian Academy, and Kayla Whitley, a sophomore at Knightdale High -- had constructed a mobile kissing booth (only for Scotty kisses), and they were both wearing shirts saying "The future Mrs. Scotty McCreery." No word on whether or not they got kisses.

Another duo -- Scotty's 8th grade teachers from West Lake Middle School in Apex (Cathy King and Tina Canfield) -- had a costume made of a chain link baseball fence with cups in the fence spelling "SCOTTY." They had Scotty masks over their faces and pulled them off when they greeted him. Scotty was very excited to see them again.

Also, Blake Evans got to go in to meet Scotty. Blake shaved "Go Scotty" into the side of his head (just his hair!), so he deserved it.

While waiting for Scotty to arrive, the crowd outside practiced singing "Your Man" (the "Baby Lock Them Doors" song by Josh Turner) and chanted "Scotty! Scotty!"

Right at 8 a.m., Scotty emerged from the stretch SUV limo (complete with Garner Police Department escort) and everyone screamed. Thad says Scotty never went out onto the stage at WQDR, but the crowds still went wild when he arrived.

One fan gave Scotty a Krispy Kreme donut when he was leaving, which he accepted. Thad reports that Scotty was grinning the whole time.

9:30 a.m., AT&T store in Garner: More than 300 McCreerians are on hand waiting for Scotty. When he arrives, he goes into the AT&T store for a bit and then comes back out onto a stage. This is where Scotty receives a text message letting him know that this week on "Idol," he'll be singing Kenny Rogers' "She Believes in Me" (it's Judges' Choice week). Scotty tells the crowd that he's not even sure if he knows that song, that he'll have to learn it.

Finally, Thad gets to chat with Scotty (!) and his mom, Judy McCreery.

Shameless promotion moment: Both Scotty and his mom report that they read the ScottyWatch / Happiness is a Warm TV coverage (and you should too!).

Scotty also tells Thad that all of the support he has received from fans and the community has been overwhelming: "This is just such a rollercoaster. If I could do this everyday, I would. 'Idol' has been so good to me."

Scotty also says when he performs in Garner later today, he'll be singing songs he has performed on "American Idol," including the Montgomery Gentry song "Gone."

Scotty's mom Judy, dad Mike and sister Ashley are traveling with Scotty today. After Scotty's next stop, he'll get some down time and lunch -- his beloved Bojangles -- and then he heads over to Lowes Foods.

11 a.m., Garner High School: A very emotional return to Garner High School for Scotty. 

Here's what happened, via Thad: Scotty arrived at the school, which is the site of a Ford Test Drive charity event today, and "Idol" and Ford naturally wanted a great shot of him getting out of the vehicle at this Ford event. You guys knew Ford sponsors the show, right? Ford Ford Ford. Okay, just checking.

So Scotty gets out of the SUV and sees all his Garner High friends and classmates and immediately starts crying. He's very emotional, wiping away tears. Great stuff. He makes his way through the crowd and to the door of the school. Then in just a moment he walks back to the SUV, gets in, and they drive him around the block. Scotty then makes another exit from the vehicle and greets his friends and classmates again.

Welcome to reality television!

Apparently "Idol," (or Ford) didn't like the first bit of footage.

Thad reports that Scotty was great with the fans. He signed lots of autographs, including some baseball uniforms worn by two young fans, and seemed continually overwhelmed by all the support. Thad said Scotty keeps saying, "I love you guys so much." Scotty seemed to want to sign more autographs and take more photos with kids, but the "Idol" producers pushed him through to take care of some Ford business.

Speaking of Ford. At one point Scotty went into the school's chorus room and school representatives were ready to allow Thad to accompany him -- but Ford would not allow it. Boo! Hiss! Even after the school officials tried to talk them into chilling out. So we'll have to wait for next week's "Idol" (I guess) to see what kind of super-secret Ford stuff was going on in the chorus room. Maybe Scotty has invented a new Ford Hybrid which runs on leftover Bojangles chicken grease and they're afraid their secrets will get out...

Next up: Lowes Foods at 1 p.m. Scotty's taking a lunch break till then and so are we.

But we have a photo gallery from the first half of Scotty's day and from w

hat I'm hearing, it's awesomesauce. 

While we're waiting for Thad's report from Lowes Foods, here are some SCOTTY RUMORS WE WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE (but ... ): Reporter Sarah Nagem, who is out at Lake Benson in Garner waiting for the Scotty parade to begin (around 2:30), says Scotty rumors are swirling there. There's been a rumor going around that a special guest will perform with Scotty today at his mini-concert in Garner. The Lake Benson crowd hears that special guest will be Josh Turner. -- Okay, that one we think might be true. We're hearing that from a couple of different places now, and that would make sense.

But this one I can't believe, no matter how much I want to: There's another rumor that Scotty will attend the Garner High prom tonight, with "American Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez as his date. That would be crazy exciting! But mostly it's just crazy. Right?

1:30 p.m., Lowes Foods in Garner: Thad reports that Scotty came into Lowes Foods grocery store (behind 8-10 Blue Crew buddies) wearing his Lowes apron and "Scotty" nametag, which his dad said he still had at home. Scotty went up to a blocked-off cash register and began checking out a customer. The customer, Debbie Mascaro and her daughter Alexis (who happen to be the wife and daughter of store manager Terry Mascaro) bought a bunch of Lowes Store brand items (mustard, ketchup, mayo, paper towels, a 2 liter cola) and of course, some Granny Smith apples. Scotty knows that code by heart.

After he rang them up he said, "Thank you for choosing Lowes." Meanwhile, everyone's screaming and taking pictures. Thad says some of the 600+ crowd have been there since before 10 this morning. (Parking in the shopping center was also insane, with a nearby businesses selling parking spots for charity.)

While at Lowes, Scotty also checked out the incredible cupcake display and signed more autographs. He also jumped up onto the checkout counter and pretended to get another AT&T text from "American Idol" so that he could again (for the cameras) announce that he'll be singing a Kenny Rogers song on this week's show.

3 p.m. Lake Benson Park in Garner: Sarah Nagem reports from the park that girls were sporting "Scotty's Hotties" shirts and carring signs that said things like "The Future Mrs. Scotty McCreery."

Rebekah Haynes, 19, traveled an hour and a half from Randolph County to see Scotty in Garner. Haynes said she likes Scotty because he is "wholesome." But that's not the only reason: "And he's really cute."

Sarah reports that Haynes and her cousin, 22-year-old Jessica Perkins of Sanford, said they stayed up until 3 a.m. making Scotty t-shirts. "Every time he goes on TV I'm just like, 'Oh my gosh!'" Perkins said.

Today's parade and concert were also broadcast on WRAL. Scotty finally took the stage around 3:50, after pretty much every politician in a 60-mile radius crowded around to steal a few minutes of camera time off the teenager's back. Meanwhile, Greg Fischel is sitting in the WRAL newsroom practically begging them to get the show on the road before severe thunderstorms roll through Garner and drown the McCreerians.

Scotty sings "Gone" (Montgomery Gentry) and "The River" (Garth Brooks) and starts to go into "Your Man," the Josh Turner song, but they stop him so that he can film a little "bit" that will air on "Idol." Instead of the Josh Turner song, Scotty sings "Letters From Home" by John Michael Montgomery. He dedicates it to the troops and inserts "Garner" into the lyrics.

Finally, it's time for what Scotty calls his theme song, which is the Josh Turner song. "Baby lock them doors and turn them lights down low..." I wonder if Scotty knows that Josh Turner is there? NO! Scotty's singing and turns around and there is Josh Turner, and Scotty almost falls out. So priceless!

Turner brings out his band and says they are going to "wing it." Scotty is clearly very excited as the two sing together. This is my first exposure to the actual person Josh Turner and I have to say, he is pretty darn cute.

Josh throws a shoutout to NC State Wolfpack (Scotty's team) and Scotty notes that Josh is a Duke fan.

Next, Scotty and Josh sing Josh's first big song, which Scotty says is his favorite song of all time. Scotty says he respects Josh because he doesn't sing about drinking and such, he keeps it clean. Together they sing "Long Black Train." Then Scotty talks about seeing a Bible scripture earlier that said something about "holding back the rain," which so far has happened there in Garner. (Greg Fischel later confirms that the Lord was smiling on Scotty because the storms skipped that area).

Then Scotty closes out the concert with Jamey Johnson's "In Color" and says it's the reason he got into singing.

Scotty ends and the crowd goes crazy, and once again, Scotty is in tears. His mom and dad and sister come out onto the stage to hug him.

Scotty tells the crowd he loves them and that he's going to "work his tail off" to win American Idol and bring it back to Garner.

It's been a big day for Scotty and a big day for Garner. Thanks for following along on our dispatches. There's more coming tonight -- the NCSU baseball game (if the Lord will also smile on Doak Field) and the Garner High prom. If anything crazy happens, we'll update you here. Otherwise, we'll have full coverage in tomorrow's News & Observer and on newsobserver.com.

If you want to see Scotty the next time he's performing here in town, you might want to enter for a chance to win front row tickets to the American Idol Tour show at the RBC Center.

UPDATE: Turns out there were some problems at the NCSU game tonight. The game was postponed because of the wet field, but Scotty did show up and throw out a pitch and then slid head-first across the wet tarps on the field several times -- which made the crowd go crazy.

And finally, the prom:  After all of today's activities, Scotty still had the time -- and energy -- to drop in at the Garner High prom, which took place at the Crabtree Marriott in Raleigh.

Reporter Sarah Nagem checked it out tonight and confirmed with security that Scotty made a brief appearance there. Scotty was taken in and out of the back of the Marriott, so apart from the police-escorted stretch SUV sightings (noted on Twitter), his prom visit was relatively under the radar.

Sarah did get to chat with a group of nine 13-year-olds girls who were staking out the Marriott in hopes of seeing Scotty. Decked out in face paint and dressed in a leopard-print costume, Della Huffines, a seventh-grader at Daniels Middle School, said "We thought maybe if we put in this much effort they'd let us in."

Chaperoning the young fans were the parents of 13-year-old Allie Wilson, also a 7th grader at Daniels. Her parents took her and the other girls to PF Changs at Crabtree because they'd heard a rumor he might be there tonight with friends. They waited for three hours and Scotty never showed up.

Allie said she wanted to meet Scotty because, "Scotty is the hottest person on the face of this planet."

Her friend and classmate Millie Crouch agreed. "I like him more than my brother," she said. "I would trade them."

In the picture below, you can see Scotty at NC State after he changed from his wet baseball clothes into a tuxedo jacket, presumably for the prom visit.

Want more photos of Scotty? Check out our photo gallery of the pre-concert portion of the day, our gallery of parade photos, the gallery from Scotty's concert. and Scotty at NC State (the tarp photos are great).