St. Stephen Horseshoe Pitcher's Club President Jason Rideout tells Tide News getting the grant from Town Council to host the championship at the new Garcelon Civic Centre was a key part of the bid. "A large event like that, you can't depend on weather being nice as it is a four to five day event. And so, the Civic Centre was the spot we were looking for and that was the key to our bid process was having a building large enough to host the event."
Rideout estimates between 200-250 people will be pitching in the championship, plus friends and family, bringing many economic spin-offs for the community. He tells Tide News, "The pitchers only pitch about 3 hours of the day because there are so many different classes. So they've got the other 21 hours to do something else. So they are looking for different events and what not to do which will definately bring economic spin-offs to our community."
Rideout tells us the budget to host the Championship will range between 30-40 thousand dollars, but they have two years to prepare. "Through fundraising and trying to get some grants, some business sponsorships, bake sales, ticket drives as well as fundraising within the club using tournaments and such. It's nothing we can't handle, we are up to the challenge, but it was a big decision for the club to make."
Rideout says they currently have about 50 active members and are always looking for new ones. He says they meet every Tuesday evening at Frasier Farm, located at 8838 Route 3 in Old Ridge, where he says everyone is welcome to come and try it out. He says everyone pitches, no matter the skill set or age, and there is no membership fee until to try it out and decide to join the Club officially for $10.
You can check out the St. Stephen Horseshoe Pitchers Club on Facebook, or their new website at www.sshorseshoepitchers.com .
He says they will find out if they won the bid in by July 11th.
