West Villages Improvement District: North Port plans rally to welcome Braves to North Port

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20200213/north-port-plans-rally-to-welcome-braves-to-north-port
By Earl Kimmel, staff writer
Feb 13, 2020

On the eve of CoolToday Park hosting the Governor’s Baseball Dinner, North Port will throw a party to toast the Atlanta Braves.

NORTH PORT — The city of North Port celebrates the Atlanta Braves opening its first full Grapefruit League season with “The BIG Rally,” from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, at the City Center Front Green.

“I’m looking forward to it and it’s going to be great,” North Port Mayor Debbie McDowell said. “Last year we only had the one game, as you know, and this year it’s a full season.

“We have to welcome them for the full season and we have to do it up right,” she later added. “Basically we’re throwing out a big huge welcome mat for the Braves North Port style.”

The Braves played one game at CoolToday Park in 2019 — a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on March 24, 2019, and the city partnered with San Pedro Catholic Church to honor the Braves at the church’s annual community festival.

This year, the city is in a position to embrace the national spotlight that comes with hosting a Major League Baseball spring training site — especially when it’s the newest site in the country and host to the Braves, one of the sport’s storied franchises.

CoolToday Park and the Braves will also host the Florida Sports Foundation’s 2020 Governor’s Baseball Dinner Sunday night, with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who played baseball at Yale University and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred heading up a star-studded guest list.

McDowell and other city officials anticipate some of those luminaries stopping by Saturday’s rally — maybe even visiting the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored 34th annual Business and Community Expo, which from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the George Mullen Activity Center, which is adjacent to the city hall campus.

Parking at the City Hall, which is located at 4970 City Hall Boulevard, is anticipated to be limited for the event, so shuttle busses will run from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. between the event and Heron Creek Middle School, 6501 W Price Blvd., North Port.

North Port resident Emanne Beasha, of America’s got Talent fame, will open up festivities with the national anthem.

Retired Atlanta Braves players Mike Bielecki and Michael Tucker will sign autographs in the Braves tent from 1 to 3 p.m.

Bielecki, had three separate stints with the Braves between 1991 and 1997, and was a member of the 1996 World Series team.

In 1988, as a member of the Chicago Cubs, he pitched the first night game ever at Wrigley Field, and was an 18-game winner in 1989, when he finished ninth in the Cy Young Award voting.

Tucker had the most productive season of his 12-year Major League Baseball career with the Braves in 1997, when he hit .283, scored 80 runs and logged 141 hits.

A pep rally will feature the local Little League, North Port schools, bands and local dignitaries.

Ari and the Alibis will perform live music.

In another anticipated spectator event, at 2:45 p.m, dachshunds will race in categories based on their age in a 30-foot outdoor station to compete for the title of “North Port’s top Dox.”

Other activities include a giant inflatable demolition game, inflatable tomahawk throw, and speed pitch station.

A variety of vendors will sell food and beverages, while the Rotary Club of North Port Central will be selling beer and wine (ID required).

The Braves open off their 17-game Grapefruit League home schedule at 1:05 p.m., Feb. 22 against the Baltimore Orioles at Cool Today Park, 18800 S. West Villages Parkway, North Port.

Another significant highlight for North Port residents will be the March 21 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, when North Port Parks & Rec and the city of North Port will host North Port Community Night.

Gates open at 4 p.m., with the game starting at 6:05 p.m.

There are 500 reserved seats available only to North Port residents in Section 124 at a cost of $15 each. Those seats are not assigned and parking at CoolToday is $10 per vehicle.

McDowell, an avid baseball fan, has fond memories of taking her children to spring training games in Sarasota to watch the White Sox, Charlotte County to watch the Rays, and looks forward to the types of memories area families will forge both watching the Braves spring training games and the Florida Fire Frogs, the Class A team that will call CoolToday home.

“My kids, to this day still talk about those memories,” McDowell said. “You cannot put a price tag on the memories created at a baseball field.

“They got Nolan Ryan’s autograph — that is a memory you cannot quantify, that is baseball,” she added. “For the individual, it’s all about the memories that are created by the baseball field.”

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate