Mineola seemed to have passed muster with many of the folks who recently visited the city during the 35th annual SMART National Muster hosted by the Mineola Civic Center.

Scores of American and military flags fluttered in the breeze last week at the encampment amid the rows of buses, vans, campers and other recreational vehicles at the Civic Center.

SMART (Special Military Active Recreational Travelers) brings military veterans, and their families together to share camaraderie, travel, camping, and support. It welcomes as members active, retired, and honorably discharged veterans from U.S. and Canadian armed forces interested in recreational travel. SMART RV Group conducts a national muster each year at a different place in the country. Every year, it conducts a “national muster” of its members from across the country. RVs began rolling into Mineola the week of Sept. 16 and the last RVs were expected to leave town Oct. 1.

Doug Blaha of Hayes, Va., this year’s first vice president of the national muster, had a positive impression of Mineola.

“We love it,” he said. “We’ve heard nothing but good about the community.”

People seemed to have plenty to do and see, and “we’ve been getting good reports on the restaurants,” he noted.

Christian Eck, a former Marine from Calico, Ark., and former president of SMART, said he was familiar with Mineola because his wife was born in Tyler.

“It’s really a neat town,” he said of Mineola. “We really appreciate the friendliness and support of the area, a lot neat shops and things like that. … We very much appreciate everything the town has done, and this RV park at the Civic Center is something else.”

Gwen Hopper of Nevada described Mineola and its downtown as “very friendly and very quaint.”

Sally Kavanaugh of Arizona also had a favorable view of Mineola. “It’s a great little town. I love the wide streets; they could be a little bit smoother. But the people have been exceptionally friendly.”