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This post is one in a series of Fort Wayne’s favorite celebrities: the Bad Apple Dancers! Click here to meet the rest of the bunch!

Tyler Baker, a Bad Apple Dancer for the Tin Caps.

Hopefully you’re making plans to attend a Tin Caps baseball game this summer. In case you need more incentive, here are some personal answers from Tyler Baker, one of the team’s famous Bad Apple Dancers, about his favorite likes of Fort Wayne.

Hometown/State:  Columbia City, Indiana

Years working for the Tin Caps:  2013 will be my 5^th year with the organization and my 4^th as a Bad Apple Dancer.

1. Favorite Fort Wayne restaurant: Ziffles Rib Bar
2. Favorite place to relax in Fort Wayne: This usually involves my making a trip to Lowe’s to get supplies for projects around the house.
3. Favorite thing to do in Fort Wayne—other than dance on Parkview Field: Anything that involves spending time with my new wife.
4. Favorite store/shop:  I’m not really sure. I like to spread my money around to everyone in the economy!
5. Favorite Fort Wayne park:  Lakeside Park
6. Favorite Fort Wayne summer festival:  RibFest
7. Favorite place to go for a burger and fries in Fort Wayne:  Don Hall’s Big Buster
8. Favorite concert venue in Fort Wayne:  The Embassy
9. Favorite place to go for ice cream in Fort Wayne:  Atz’s
10. What do you like most about Fort Wayne?  I enjoy the small town feel even though Fort Wayne is a big city.

To order tickets for Fort Wayne TinCaps Baseball at Parkview Field call 260.482.6400 or learn more here.

This post is one in a series of Fort Wayne’s favorite celebrities: the Bad Apple Dancers! Click here to meet the rest of the bunch!

Bad Apple Dancer Brent Harring

Isn’t Fort Wayne lucky to have talented dancers in its midst? I’m talking about the Bad Apple Dancers of the Tin Caps ball team! Brent Harring, aka ‘Rizzle’, is one of the Fab Four. He gives us his take on Fort Wayne’s best places to go for a good time.

Hometown/State: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Besides working as a Bad Apple Dancer, I’m also a ticket sales manager for the Tin Caps. This will be my 6^th season

1. Favorite Fort Wayne restaurant? Pint and Slice
2. Favorite place to relax in Fort Wayne? The Deck when it’s nice out, Dash-In in the winter
3. Favorite thing to do in Fort Wayne: Other than dance on Parkview Field!? Run the trails on the Rivergreenway.
4. Favorite store/shop? Stoner’s for our Friday theme night costume ideas
5. Favorite Fort Wayne park? Lakeside is awesome!
6. Favorite Fort Wayne summer festival? Real close between Rib Fest and German Fest.  I’m approximately 63% German though, so I’ll go with that!
7. Favorite place to go for a burger and fries in Fort Wayne? Flanagan’s, anything on that menu is fantastic!
8. Favorite concert venue in Fort Wayne: The Embassy, though Snoop Dogg at Pierre’s in 2010 was probably the greatest concert I’ve ever been to in my entire life.
9. Favorite place to go for ice cream in Fort Wayne? Yo-Yo’s
10. What do you like most about Fort Wayne? Anything and everything that happens downtown! I live, work, and play downtown and you will find me here 95% of the time!

Thanks, Brent!

To order tickets for Fort Wayne TinCaps Baseball at Parkview Field call 260.482.6400 or learn more here.

As if we needed another good reason to attend TinCaps ballgames at Parkview Field (besides the fun action on the field and the opportunity to relax in a beautiful ballpark!), now there’s something new to entice us there!

A new hospitality area called The 400 Club is being built in the center field. Its called 400 Club because it overlooks the field and is 400 feet from home plate.

This area will accommodate parties of 20-150 people. The enclosed area will have a grill, bathroom facilities, heat and, perhaps more importantly for summer games, air conditioning.

Catering for the hospitality area will include the best of the park’s best concession goodies— mini burgers, pork sliders, grilled burger with onions, nacho bar, burritos, boneless wings, waffle fries, jalapeno poppers, fried macaroni and cheese bites and more. Plus there will be a build your own ice cream bar with hot fudge toppings that is not offered elsewhere in park.

According to Brad Shank, VP of ticket sales for Parkview Field, beer and wine are included in the ticket price of $40 per person for groups of 20 or more. “It is an all-you-can-eat buffet that will begin 30 minutes before the game,” he said.

The hospitality area will open May 22. Already, Shank has been blown away by the interest in booking the hospitality area by various groups. “We’ve already sold more than half of our available dates for the hospitality area,” he said. The hospitality area can be used for special events such as wedding receptions, class reunions, rehearsal dinners, holiday parties.

If you need a place to meet with family or friends for an upcoming special event, consider the new hospitality area at Parkview Field. It promises to be an unforgettable experience!

Learn more at www.tincaps.com.

This post is one in a series of Fort Wayne’s favorite celebrities: the Bad Apple Dancers! Click here to meet the rest of the bunch!

Bad Apple Dancer Austin Allen

Play Ball!

It’s that time of the year again! Time for ballgames by Tin Caps at Parkview Field!

If you’ve not yet attended a ball game at Fort Wayne’s outstanding ball field, please consider doing so this year. Not only does the team offer a beautiful place to sit and watch baseball, they offer some fascinating local entertainment between innings. The name of that entertainment is the Bad Apple Dancers.

These are four guys whose main function is to smooth out the dirt on the field. While pulling a big rake, they add their own moves on the route around the diamond.

To help you get to know the Bad Apple Dancers we’ve asked them to contribute some personal information about themselves. First up is Austin Allen who also works as Ticket Sales Manager for the Tin Caps.

Name: Austin ‘Flava A’ Allen
Hometown/State: Owosso, MI
Position on the ball field: Bad Apple Dancer
Years playing for the Tin Caps: 2013 will be my third season with the team, second season as a Bad Apple Dancer

1. Favorite Fort Wayne restaurant? Pint N Slice
2. Favorite place to go to relax in Fort Wayne? I like to run on the trails or play disc golf at Shoaff Park.
3. Favorite thing to do in Fort Wayne—other than dance on Parkview Field? I play volleyball a couple times a week. I enjoy the different festivals throughout the summer as well.
4. Favorite store/shop? The Orchard at Parkview Field
5. Favorite Fort Wayne park? Shoaff Park or Swinney Park
6. Favorite Fort Wayne summer festival? RibFest
7. Favorite place to go for a burger and fries in Fort Wayne? Dash In
8. Favorite concert venue in Fort Wayne? The Embassy
9. Favorite place to go for ice cream in Fort Wayne? Yo-Yo
10. Likes most about Fort Wayne? There is a lot going on, and it is easy to keep myself busy. I can always find something to do or somewhere to go.

To order tickets for Fort Wayne TinCaps Baseball at Parkview Field call 260.482.6400 or learn more here.

I’m so excited about a unique opportunity for people who like to write for children in Fort Wayne in May!

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is conducting its regional conference at Hotel Fort Wayne, 305 E Washington Center Road on May 3-5. Organizers are calling it the Wild, Wild Midwest Conference which is a little different for the theme in a Midwest location, but it is sure to be informative and fun!

I say it is a prestigious group because this is a well-known international group of people who care about producing quality children’s literature. I joined the group in 2012 and have learned much from them through their magazine and on-line chat forums, postings for work, etc.

Even though I’ve published nine non-fiction books for middle schoolers (several are available in Allen County Public Library) and two additional books by another publisher to be released in 2013, I still have lots to learn about writing for kids. That’s why I registered for the conference.

For possibly the first time in the group’s existence it is conducting its regional conference in Fort Wayne.

I’m thrilled with the line-up of authors scheduled to be at the conference: Jane Yolen, Franny Billingsley, Kathi Appelt, Peter Brown, and SCBWI founder Lin Oliver to name a few. These names are familiar to me after working in a middle school library for several years. Most have won awards and have a well-established place in children’s literature. I’ve volunteered to help with Jane Yolen’s book signing and hope to meet her! She has written 300+ books for children and even has an award named after her!

The conference encompasses five regions for children’s writers and illustrators so it promises to attract many attendees. The conference features editors, agents, illustrators, an art director, and marketing pros.

The summer national conference takes place in Los Angeles later this summer. I won’t be attending that one, but with 25 faculty members right in Fort Wayne, this event is available at a fraction of the cost.

Here is the link to the on-line brochure: http://www.scbwi.org/Resources/Documents/WildWildMidwest2013Brochure.pdf.

Registration for the conference closed on April 24, but keep the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in mind for your own writing needs and consider becoming a member!