On Saturday, June 8, the Columbus Crew held its ninth annual Crew Fest at Columbus Crew Stadium. The event – which was exclusive to Crew season ticket holders – saw more than 1,500 Black & Gold season ticket holders who came out to meet the players for autographs and pictures and partake in a number of different activities. Events included shooting contests like the Upper 90 penalty kick contest, three-on-three soccer games, EA Sports’ FIFA 13 tournaments, soccer tennis and corn-hole. The most popular stations were ones that fans could interact with the players such as the Crew Fest dunk tank where guests were invited to kick a soccer ball at the target to submerge Black & Gold defenders Eric Gehrig and Drew Beckie.
Patrick Spangler, a season ticket holder since 2007 who was attending his second Crew Fest, enjoyed that interaction with the team. “This is the first time you can really have fun with the players,” Spangler said.
“You can walk around and get autographs for 15 different things and they don’t mind,” continued Spangler.
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Columbus Crew, Mike Malo, hailed the event saying that it is, “a great opportunity for the fans to interact with the players, get some autographs, some pictures and chat with them a little. The players are so open to interact with the fans and they do a great job of it.”
The Crew Soccer Foundation hosted a yard sale where it sold Crew merchandise from past seasons. The “big-ticket” items sold were banners of Black & Gold “Work Hard – Play Harder” and former Crew forward Jeff Cunningham as well as yellow Glidden jerseys, media guides and gameday programs from previous years. 100% of the money earned at the yard sale went to benefit the Crew Soccer Foundation as it seeks to continually serve the community.
