Jersey are one thing, but what about moving a person all the way across the country to get them to South Carolina to perform? It turns out the process isn’t exactly cookie cutter. For example, this weekend, Chase and Marshall have their costumes shipped here to Segra Park where they are stored until the big stars show up at the yard the day of the game, but some local acts need to see the park before they agree to come out. “Once an act is interested in performing, we typically bring that act to Segra Park to do a walk-through,” Marketing and Community Engagement Manager, Halle Wade tells. “An example of why
this is necessary is when our Stilt Walker for A Night Under the Big Top came out, she needed to see if she would fit underneath the overhang of our concourse. If the walk-through goes well, then we book the entertainment!” The Fireflies typically take care of flying the act into Columbia and escorting them to-and-from the hotel to Segra Park to ensure their comfort and ease of access to the stadium for the game. This was the case when Sean Gibson came in to speak to fans following the Saturday Negro League Weekend game where he talked about his great grandfather, Josh Gibson and brought the Josh Gibson traveling museum to Segra Park. While the acts and jerseys may be some of the most notable things you see on a specialty night at Segra Park, the idea of a promotion starts a bit before that. Once the staff has an idea of what type of promotion they want to run on a specific day, they need to have an idea of what they want to do with the image and likeness of the show or music or movie to bring it into the ballpark. “Initial conversations just need to have a general concept, but once a contract is signed, there are a lot of approvals that need to be met before promotion and advertising for the event can take place,” Director of Marketing, Ashlie Decarlo explains. “Some things that need approval before we can market them include the title of the night itself, any graphics or videos related to the event and all in-game visual elements that are related to the theme night.” So once the team decides they want to host, say, PAW Patrol Night, they draft the general idea, get that idea approved by Nickelodeon, and then they have to create each individual element and have them approved by the parent company before they can begin to advertise for the event. Needless to say, a lot goes on behind the scenes before Chase and Marshall show up Saturday!
“Booking entertainment acts is a detailed task we have to do here at Segra Park, but it is our job to make the ballpark the most fun place in the Midlands!” Wade says.
That’s just a small taste of what the front office does to entice everyone to come out to Segra Park! It just goes to show, you don’t have to be a die-hard baseball fan to love going to a Fireflies game—you might just fall in love with one of the promotions at the yard!
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker