Volume 81 No. 6
Grimsley High School
801 Westover Terrace
Greensboro, NC 27408
Monday, February 28, 2005
New stadium
opens “horizons”
for baseball fans
' 'C
After a relocation and
an extensive renovation,
the new Greensboro
baseball stadium is
finished. Once Memorial
Stadium, it now is known
to the public as First
Horizon Park.
By Shimere Etheridge
Staff Writer
On Jan. 10, workers began
installing the final essential
element in Greensboro's new
downtown baseball stadium —
the seats. Once this task was
completed, fans where able to
purchase tickets, beginning at
10 a.m. on Feb. 19 (for
individual games). First
Horizon Park, the name of the
host stadium for the new
Greensboro Grasshoppers, will
host 71 games including the
April 3 exhibition against
Major League Baseball's
Florida Marlins. The regular-
season home opener is April 9.
Six dollars can buy
standing-room tickets when
necessary. However, the park
is well equipped in the lower
level, which consists of 4,893
fixed seats that cost between $7
and $9. Children and die-hard
baseball fans may enjoy the
option to sit or stand on the
large berm behind the left-field
fence or the small berm down
the first-base line, which will
cost $6. Six dollars is also the
price for admission to the
GoTriad Grandstand area.
Prices for most of the fixed
seats are higher than for seats
at Memorial Stadium, the
team's former home. At the
Memorial Stadium last season,
the team charged $7 for
reserved seats, which had
chairbacks, and $6 for
general-admission seating
on bleachers.
"You won't be able to please
everyone," said Grasshoppers
President Donald Moore. "But
now people will-have more
choices and a more
comfortable setting. It's still
pretty affordable, and people
can still come at the old prices."
No bleachers in the new
park means that there will be
no general-admission tickets;
all the fixed seats are by
reservation only. There are 894
seats for $9, 2,250 seats for $8,
and 1,749 seats for $7.
The number of seats
available for the Marlins game.
f-
, ,, '
“• ' ' -
Forgay photo
The recently constructed Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball stadium. First Horizon Park, is
conveniently located downtown, an attractive novelty to citizens of the growing city.
which starts at 2 p.m., and any
others will depend on how
many season tickets the club
sells. As of January, the
Grasshoppers had sold
approximately 1,470 season
tickets. Moore hopes that by
the time of the Marlins game,
2,000 tickets will have
been sold, leaving 2,893 fixed
seats available. About
2,000 more tickets will be
available at $6. They will
accommodate 1,000 fans on the
large berm, 250 on the
small berm, and 800 in
the grandstand.
In the grandstand, there
are stools around the bar,
500 seats in a pregame picnic
space that will open at game
time, and standing room
on the concourse, where many
fans may watch from
a railing.
"Our aim is to provide fun
and affordable family
entertainment, whether the
team is playing the Marlins
or the Hickory Crawdads,"
said Moore.
The fixed seats range
from 20 to 22 inches wide
and are dark green, a
traditional color found in
many a baseball stadium.
Moore said the team has
placed the stadium capacity at
7,599, a figure that includes
the fixed seats in the lower
level, 500 seats in the skyboxes
and party decks, 156
grandstand boxes, and the
2 berms.
On Feb. 19, the team
will have an open house
to correspond with the sale
of individual tickets.
The online ticketing system
should be up and running
by then, according to Moore.
■St,
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4
PTSA gambles on Casino
Night, enjoyable parent event
\
7
i
isi
In an attempt to bring
Grimsley parents together,
the PTSA hosted Casino
Night at the Empire
Room downtown.
i
■
By Chris Izzard
Reporter
-
Internet graphic
Among the games featured at Casino Night was roulette.
The PTSA hopes the event helped bring parents together.
The Parent Teacher Student
Association's (PTSA) latest
attempt to bring the school
community together comes in
the form of Casino Night.
Ms. Patricia Aronson, head
of the PTSA Casino Night, says
that it unites people who
would not otherwise meet.
People from the surrounding
neighborhoods can now talk
about matters that concern
their own communities while
enjoying the company of one of
Grimsley's most entertaining
teachers. Coach Joe Franks III.
Overall, Casino Night provides
a safe haven for people who
want to support the school and
have fun with acquaintances.
The only thing needed to
participate in the games
offered is a small amount of
money, which is then
exchanged for fake money
used in the games. The real
money goes to support
different things within the
school, such as the Media
Center. Participants are to
be Grimsley students'
continued on Page 2
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