What happened: This year, Midland’s National Petroleum Day celebration expanded beyond its annual gala with its first free event for the public, a Wall Street tailgate. Held outside the Petroleum Club, the event featured oilfield-related vendors, food trucks, live music, and an advertised oilfield machinery exhibit.

National Petroleum Day marks Aug. 27, 1859, when Edwin Drake drilled the first successful commercial oil well in the United States.

The big picture: I was excited to check out the public tailgate and see Midland come together around its biggest industry, but after attending, I came away a little disappointed.

My overall impression was that the tailgate didn’t quite come together as planned. There were plenty of vendors, but many seemed aimed more at industry networking than at creating a family-style street fair.

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The biggest disappointment for me was the advertised “oilfield machinery exhibit,” which amounted to just a few pieces of equipment, including a pump controller. From the promotion, I was expecting something closer to the machinery displays you might find at the Petroleum Museum.

The good news is that the night was not without some fun. The band was excellent, and it is always worthwhile to get out of the house and celebrate something in Midland. I believe this event could be a useful jumping-off point for next year.

Go deeper: Inside the Petroleum Club, the ticketed Landman-themed gala was the more formal half of the night. Jim Woodcock received the Heritage Award and Jack Harper received the Maverick Award. Midland College presented the National Petroleum Day Petroleum Engineering Scholarship, and a live auction benefiting the Midland Fire Department was held. State Sen. Kevin Sparks was among the featured speakers.