PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) - Cal Ripken Jr. and Ripken Baseball were welcomed to Pigeon Forge with a groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of the Ripken Experience - the $22.5 million youth baseball facility is expected to open in spring 2016.
“I can’t wait to see the thousands of kids that will enjoy this facility,” Ripken told the small crowd gathered for the event this month.
He was joined by Mayor David Wear, City Manager Earlene Teaster, city commissioners and state Tourism Director Susan Whitaker. They thanked the Hall of Famer and Ripken Baseball President Tim Lewis for choosing Pigeon Forge.
“This is a great opportunity for Pigeon Forge to partner with a wonderful company and a wonderful legend, Cal Ripken Jr.,” Wear said. “We’re looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship.”
Pigeon Forge is set to be the third Ripken Experience location. Others are in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina., and Ripken’s hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland
The facility, which will be located along the Jake Thomas Road extension, will feature six lighted, synthetic-turf fields that borrow designs from professional ballparks - including Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where Ripken played during his Hall of Fame career.
“What we’re trying to do now is to try to capture some of that excitement,” he said. “We go back and we start to think of old stadiums and places that you played. There was a character to those places. There were special feelings to the community when they go to the ball games. So that’s what we’re trying to do with these kids complexes.”
The site will include a two-level clubhouse with more than 14,000 square feet, and a 2,749-square-foot concession/restroom building with an adjacent pavilion.
In her remarks, Whitaker said investing in youth sports tourism is a wise move for the city.
“It’s recession-proof,” she said. “It drives more family tour and travel than just about any other sector (of tourism), and it’s just growing with leaps and bounds.”
In discussing the goal of the project, Ripken cited what he called the Ripken Way.
“We tend to look at it as part of the development of kids and enjoying the experience,” he said.
“It’s not the end-all to win the whole tournament, because there’s only gonna be one team that wins the whole tournament,” he said. “Sports teach you so many good things along the way that we all know about, so we want to emphasize those.”
The company’s decision to locate in Pigeon Forge was influenced by its experience in the busy tourist destination of Myrtle Beach, Ripken said.
“When we first started, we would give out surveys and say, ’What was the greatest thing about Myrtle Beach?’” he said.
Answers included tourist attractions that also are common in Pigeon Forge, such as go-karts and water slides, Ripken said.
“You realize kids are kids, and this is a part of their experience,” he said.
Pigeon Forge has agreed to a 10-year management agreement with Ripken Baseball. As part of that agreement, Ripken will make future appearances in the city.
Ripken President Lewis said the facility will compliment Rocky Top Sports World, the youth sports facility that recently opened in Gatlinburg. Rocky Top features indoor and outdoor fields for a variety of sports, though no baseball fields.
“They draw a lot of folks from out of town - they come in for these activities,” Lewis said. “We want to be part of the community, to draw more folks to come to Pigeon Forge and enjoy the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.”
City Manager Teaster said bringing the Ripken Experience to Pigeon Forge reflects the city’s commitment to the tourism industry.
“Pigeon Forge simply believes in tourism, and for decades now, our board of commissioners and the business folk and the community in this area have invested heavily in tourism - that’s our livelihood,” she said.
The city plans to promote the Ripken Experience to new prospective tourists, Teaster said.
“We know if we market this right, then these folks are going to come back.”
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