PORTLAND, Maine -- The Boston Red Sox have special nights fortheir New England neighbors like State of Maine Day at Fenway Park.
The Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox's Double-A Eastern Leagueaffiliate, has had special community days for fans from specifictowns primarily in the Portland area.
But the Sea Dogs had never had a community day for Bangor or anytown more than 100 miles away.
That will change Monday when the Sea Dogs will have BangorCommunity Day.
The Bangor Daily News is the primary sponsor for the 1 p.m.Memorial Day game with the New Britain Rock Cats at Hadlock Field.Bangor Savings Bank and Fairpoint Communications will serve assupplemental sponsors.
The Rock Cats are affiliated with the Minnesota Twins.
The idea for Bangor Day was hatched several months ago, accordingto Geoff Iacuessa, the Sea Dogs' executive vice president andgeneral manager, and Liz Riley, the director of sales, marketing andpromotions.
'It's something we had talked about,' said Iacuessa. 'Liz hadsome contacts in Bangor at the Bangor Daily News, Bangor SavingsBank and at other businesses, and she reached out to them.'
'We had been reaching out to specific communities hopingbusinesses within the community would be interested,' said Riley.'We understand them not being able to do it on a regular basis butwe thought they might be interested in having a special day.'
Riley also said the Bangor market was appealing to them thanks toits progressive attitude that includes the state's first casino, theHollywood Casino, the construction of the new Bangor Auditorium andthe Waterfront Concert Series that has attracted what she termedsome 'serious [top-notch] entertainment.'
'Every time I go to Bangor. I'm amazed at how much it is growing.It's growing in leaps and bounds. It's pretty exciting,' said Riley.
The Sea Dogs have been involved in other ventures with the Bangorcommunity. They have regularly sent staff members to the annual WZON-AM Hot Stove Banquet at the Bangor Civic Center to drum up interestin the Sea Dogs. Boston Red Sox play-by-play man Joe Castiglione andhis partner, Dave O'Brien, have been the featured guests in recentyears.
'We've always had strong connections in Bangor,' said Riley.
'It's important for us to reach out as much as we can across thestate,' said Iacuessa. 'We want to show our appreciation for theirsupport over the first 19 years.'
Elizabeth Hansen, the Bangor Daily News' director of research andmarket development, said BDN Digital Advertising Manager DennisGears brought Riley and the BDN together and that got the ballrolling.
'We were looking for a good partnership in Portland. We'reexpanding our market area and this partnership looked real good forus,' explained Hansen. 'The Sea Dogs are a known entity. They have agood reputation and a good brand and we like to align our brand withother good brands. So it made sense from that standpoint. We'reexpanding and we're there to stay.'
'They're also an organization that engages audiences we like tointerface with: kids, families and good healthy kinds ofactivities,' she added.
Shelley Sund, the Bangor Daily News' marketing coordinator, saidRiley came to Bangor three months ago and met with her, Editor-in-Chief Mike Dowd and Hansen.
'Liz was excited about cultivating support in Bangor and amongthe Bangor business community,' said Hansen. 'We had previously hadcorrespondence with her through emails and phone calls.'
'What it was for us was a trade-off,' explained Sund. 'We came onas a sponsor and they'll run a 30-second promotion on the scoreboardon Monday about our statewide sports coverage. We've also had abanner about our statewide sports coverage at Hadlock since theopener.'
Hansen said the Bangor Daily News has given the Sea Dogs freeadvertising 'in all of our properties, the digital properties aswell as the print properties.'
'I would classify it as a real good strategic partnership,' saidHansen.
The Sea Dogs have supplied the BDN with 250 tickets to Monday'sgame and Hansen said the Bangor West and East Side Little Leagueshave been given a bunch of them.
In addition, BDN Sports Editor Joe McLaughlin awarded 25 apieceto the Old Town High School softball and Orono High baseball teamscourtesy of a competition among schools who did the best jobreporting their games to the sports department.
There were several candidates and their names were drawn out ofhat by 15-month-old Chloe Thibodeau, daughter of Cory Thibodeau andBDN Maine Living Editor Aimee Thibodeau.
Sund said they have tickets left over and she will distributethem at Hadlock Field before Monday's game.
'We want to share the love around the Portland area as well,'said Hansen.
There will be plenty of activities surrounding Monday's game asit will be Military Monday, which is a weekly feature, and it willalso be Military Appreciation Day since it is Memorial Day.
'We're going to honor our veterans. The team will be wearingspecial hats and they will auction them off after the game with theproceeds going to the National Guard fund for servicemen and theirfamilies,' said Riley.
'We raised $900 last year.'
In addition, all fans and their children can go on the field andplay catch between 10-11:15 a.m.
'It should be a great time,' said Hansen.
All parties involved hope Bangor Community Day becomes an annualevent.
'Absolutely,' said Riley. 'Everything we do we like to make itcontinue and grow from year to year. When we held our first roadrace, we had 300 runners. This year we had to cap it at 3,000.'
