By Joe Morey
News Editor
The LCO Youth Baseball Association is hosting their biggest fundraising event yet, the Summer Slam Festival, a four-day get-together filled with baseball, softball, bounce house carnival, kid’s activities, vendor sales and more. The festival kicks off Thursday morning with a Babe Ruth baseball tournament and continues through the weekend.
The idea for a festival was born a couple months back when the youth baseball program’s Board of Directors decided they needed to do a fundraiser to send over 70 young athletes and their families to Wisconsin Dells in celebration of a great baseball season.
In January of this year, the LCO Tribal Governing Board approved financing $100,000 towards construction of a new Babe Ruth field at the casino ballfield complex along with new digital scoreboards and supporting new equipment for all the kids. This included new cleats, gloves, bats, and uniforms as well as a pitching machine and a collegiate-level batting cage. All this was approved after they had already spent $25,000 renovating the two existing fields and approving $50,000 for a new playground at the complex.
These new improvements to the ball fields excited the whole community, which resulted in an explosion of the program from 12 players in the 2020 season to 72 athletes, ages 6 to 15, representing five youth baseball teams.
The Summer Slam ’21 festival has many events for the whole family from awesome concessions featuring fry bread, to youth and adult tournaments and a vendor market. The following are the events scheduled for the festival.
Chuxie’s Diner Concession Stand
Well-known throughout the Southern Sawyer County Little League for their great menu items, the LCO Youth Baseball’s concession stand features fry bread with burgers, tacos, hot dogs and brats, as well as many snack items and cotton candy! They will also have homemade soup, mac and cheese, pizza and other items. The stand will be open throughout the weekend.
Bounce House Carnival
The Bounce House Carnival will run all four days from 10 am to 8 pm each day and will feature three large bounce houses, the Goliath Obstacle Course, Disney Fairyland and a 22’ high double slide. There will also be carnival games including Zombie Zap, Western Showdown, Ring Toss, Duck Pond, Quarterback Toss, and Golf Challenge. Purchase of a $10 daily wristband will get you unlimited access to all the games and houses for the entire day of purchase.
The Kids Area
The Kids Area will feature many fun activities including a dunk tank which will allow people to dunk their favorite coaches, teachers, police officers, local officials and many more. The National Guard will have their Rock Wall set up for everyone to test their climbing abilities. The Kids Area will also feature a Water Balloon Gauntlet for anyone who dares run the gauntlet and dodge the water balloons tossed by LCO Little Leaguers who will be strategically placed throughout.
Craft and Market Fair
The craft and market fair will feature arts and crafts, flea market, farmer market and Native American artisans and will run from 9am to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday. The market fair still has spots available and can be reserved by contacting Stephanie St. Germaine at waabigwan29@hotmail.com. Spots are $50 for both days or $30 for a single day.
Pancake Breakfast
The Pancake Breakfast will run from 7am till 11am on Saturday morning featuring a stack of cakes, eggs and sausage for only $8.
Friday Walleye Fry
On Friday night beginning at 5 pm is a great fish fry featuring fresh walleye filets with fries and macaroni salad for only $11. The fish fry will go until gone.
Softball Tournament
A Co-Ed softball tournament will be played all day Saturday with local teams vying for 100% payback cash plus $500 of added money. The entry fee is $250 and the tournament will be played as a double elimination. Teams can still register by calling Joe Morey at 715-699-6014.
Babe Ruth and Little League Tournaments
On Friday, 13-15 year-olds representing two LCO Babe Ruth teams will play at 6:00 pm leading up to the Kinfamous Teen DJ/Hip Hop Party. On Sunday, the 12 and under kids will get together and play in a one-day 8 team tournament. Teams can still register by calling Joe Morey.
Teen DJ/Hip Hop Party with Kinfamous
A night of good clean entertainment will be provided free for the youth of the community with DJ and Hip Hop entertainer, Kinfamous and Rez A Dew Entertainment from 8 pm till Midnight.
Thursday Evening
On Thursday evening, the LCO Youth Baseball Association parents will meet up for a softball battle at 6 pm. The softball parent game will be followed by Movie Night featuring “The Sandlot,” sponsored by the LCO Behavioral Health, CCS, and the Recovery Clinic.
For any further information regarding Summer Slam ’21, visit the LCO Youth Baseball Association Facebook page at #LCOYouthBaseball
