04/03/16 / Padres360.com / @Padres360
by Rebecca Herman
It’s been a great weekend to lead up to the Padres Opening Day on Monday … bring on the baseball season!
Music & Memories
On Friday night, Wayne & I attended “Music & Memories” honoring hometown hero – Tony Gwynn. It was a concert even to support the Tony Gwynn Memorial planned for Tony’s hometown of Poway. It was a great night of music and memories … just like the title implied. The Poway Center for the Performing Arts is a great venue. Mark Larson was the MC. We enjoyed Back to the Garden, Glen Erath, Eve Selis, Steve Vaus, Richie McDonald (of Lonestar), and Tim Flannery & The Lunatic Fringe. In addition to the music, memories were shared by Shawne Merriman, Trevor Hoffman, and Mark Grant. There were silent and live auctions. All to raise money for what will be an amazing tribute.
Yes – the music was great; however, it was about heart … family … community. It reminded us why we love baseball and our San Diego Padres. It is so much more than the game played between the lines. Our hope is that we can cultivate more heart-based fans who will be loyal to our team.
You can make a donation to support this project.
Social Summit
Saturday Wayne & I were honored to be invited to the #SDSocialSummit. As always, the social media and marketing team … Nicky Patriarca, Maddie Gritsch, and Wayne Partello … were most hospitable and ready to show us all that had been happening behind the scenes.
We were treated to Q&As with: Andy Green, Don Welke, Mark Grant, and Jesse Agler.
Wayne Partello was excited to show us around the ballpark so we could see all the amazing additions. He explained that they used several focus groups to help determine how they could really represent the Padres and the city of San Diego throughout the ballpark. Areas that were previously blank walls now represent various locales of San Diego. I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed with entrances to ballpark restrooms! Toyota Terrace level – outside the suites – now have amazing vintage photo/murals throughout. We are looking forward to studying each of them and their captions throughout the season.
Another great addition to some previously blank walls are these amazing murals of our HOFers! Love them!
You’ve likely seen pictures of the “new” HOF / retired numbers (no longer above the batter’s eye) that adorn the Home Plate Gate entrance. However, seeing them in person is really neat because they are quite LARGE and make a great photo opp!! The main “petco park” sign has also been replaced to align with Petco’s rebranded lower case lettering. Painting the entrance stairs blue also added quite a bit of depth and a spash of color.
There have been quite a few changes and additions in the food and beverage department as well. Hodad’s will now have 4 locations for quicker service on those amazing burgers but no longer offered in a sit-down-restaurant setting. Replacing the Toyota Terrace Hodad’s location is Board & Brew. We didn’t get to the new “beach” area because FanFest was happening there but we were told there is an enormous selection … 55 LOCAL BREWS ON TAP! WOW! There is also the addition of Gaglione Brothers (cheesesteak sandwiches), the Brigantine – including a Seafood & Oyster Bar (Toyota Terrace – Coronados), and Mr. Softee for dessert! Of course, there is more … much more … and 81 games to explore!!
After the tour, we came back together and Mike Janela ran a trivia contest … winners for each question received tickets for an upcoming Padres game! Wayne was quick with a response about Randy Jones and won two tickets! And no gathering would be complete without a group photo … and we got to pose with our favorite Padre emoji! Here’s one of our selfies …
After the #SDSocialSummit concluded, we were able to attend the final Spring Training Game vs the White Sox.
Thank you, Padres, for a great day! Now … let’s all be great fans and support our home team all year!!!
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