DECATUR — Matt Price, of Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, appeared at Monday’s Chamber of Commerce meeting to present the ballpark’s community night program to chamber members.

Arvest Ballpark, home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals minor league baseball team, combines professional baseball with family entertainment, according to Price.

The ballpark is in its second year of holding community nights, spotlighting some of the smaller towns in the area, to extend themselves to the community, he said.

“Our name is the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, not the Springdale Naturals,” Price said.

The ballpark holds community night events Sunday through Wednesday during the Natural’s season, April through September. The chamber and any other Decatur organizations that would like to participate would sell tickets for the game at a $2 discount. Reserved tickets are usually $8, but will be $6 for Decatur residents, Price said. The Chamber of Commerce would get $1 profit from each ticket sold. The ballpark would also provide the chamber with marketing materials such as posters and signs to help sell tickets, Price said.

According to Price, the community night at Arvest Ballpark would provide a number of ways to promote Decatur including:

◊ A person from Decatur would throw out the ceremonial first pitch;

◊ The announcer would give Decatur a special welcome and share fun historical facts about the town throughout the game;

◊ Decatur’s city logo would be displayed on the video board;

◊ The chamber would be given space for a table in the concourse to promote the city or an event such as the Decatur Barbecue;

◊ If the youth sports organization helped sell more than 250 tickets, they would be allowed to have a parade around the field and the teams would be recognized; and

◊ Community members would get to participate in the games between innings.

Chamber members agreed the community night would be a good opportunity to publicize the Decatur Barbecue. There were some concerns because the chamber tried to hold a community night last year, but only two people bought tickets.

Jean Johnson pointed out that even if there aren’t a lot of people from Decatur attending the event, it would still help advertise the Decatur Barbecue.

Stacy Brooks suggested picking a Sunday evening for the community night and working with local churches to make it a youth group outing. He suggested dates of July 18 or 25 - the two Sundays before the Decatur Barbecue on Aug. 6.

Royce Johnson appointed Amy Brooks, David Flynt and Dona Jennings to be on a Northwest Arkansas Naturals Community Night committee to explore having the event and asked Amy Brooks to contact Price to see if the July 18 and 25 dates are available.

News, Pages 1 on 03/03/2010