HARTFORD – The Capitol City’s slogan is “Hartford has it” and this summer, Hartford has had a lot of thanks to the city’s new ballpark.
Before it was built, downtown Hartford was typically very quiet on a weeknight but that has all changed as the city sees close to 5,000 people on game nights.
“The number of people that they see, that store owners see, shop owners see walking up Trumbull Street, walking up Main Street, coming into the ballpark wearing their Yard Goats gear. It really feels like a contribution,” said Mike Abramson, Assistant General Manager of the Hartford Yard Goats.
People are always decked out in their Yard Goats gear, walking up and down the streets of Hartford and hitting up the restaurants and shops all before they buy their tickets to the game.
“I think we’ve had more than 20 sellouts at this point. In minor league baseball, you have to make your own luck. It’s not like the majors where you have the good team and people just come. You have to do a really good job, you have to have interest in promotions,” added Abramson.
While it is just minor league, fans said baseball is baseball. They said it is great to just kick back and watch a game without having to drive too far.
“I think the whole challenge here is to get the millennial crowd to be more excited about living and working here and this is just one more thing to do, to recreate and have a good time here,” said Kevin Flaherty of Old Saybrook.
“We moved down to Hartford where our kids grew up and now we’re having a blast, so this is just another thing to do that’s a lot of fun,” said Lisa Rarus of Hartford.
“It’s affordable. It’s a beautiful night and we’ve got people in Downtown Hartford right now. There’s a ton of people here and it’s fun!” said Ted Keys of Suffield.