By Kelly:
I look forward to Mariners FanFest weekend every year. In fact it’s one of my favorite weekends of the year. My family and I head down to Seattle and make it to the Caravan event Friday night. This year it was in Lynnwood, WA at the Alderwood Mall, Mike Zunino, James Paxton and Dan Wilson were there to sign autographs and take pictures.
There were big changes to this year’s FanFest. Biggest change was that they reduced the amount of vouchers they handed out per autograph session from 450 to 225. Last year it went to 450 from 500. Also they went to 2 different autograph times to 4. Even with the reduced vouchers it felt like I was in line even more than usually. I don’t necessarily mind them reducing the vouchers but I don’t like that they only had 1 player at each table, except for the prospects. No disrespect to the announcers but there is no need for Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims to sit at the table waiting for people to come for their autograph. They couldn’t give their vouchers away at the entrance of the stadium.
They added a few new attractions to the event as well. They had the Pennant Chase Rock Climbing Wall and a spot with a mound to show your best Fernando Rodney impression, Let the Arrow Fly. Kyle Seager’s Gold Glove was there to see and get pictures with. As for the players that were there, new guys like Nelson Cruz and J.A. Happ made their first Mariners appearance. Mariners fan favorites were there as well, Mike Zunino, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Tom Wilhelmson, Fernando Rodney and Austin Jackson. The prospects that were there this year were Alex Jackson, D.J. Peterson, John Hicks and Patrick Kivlehan and of course the M’s legends like Buhner and Wilson made an appearance.
I got in line a little bit after 8:00 and there were way more people than I thought would be there. That shows you what contending for the playoffs and being 1 game short does for a fan base. I was still able to get all the autographs I really wanted and do all the family stuff with my daughters and wife. The one thing I make sure to do every year is get a picture with my daughters as we are running the bases. We stop around 2nd base and get a picture. Over the years it has gotten harder and harder to do with more people in attendance but we make sure we get it done.
You could feel how excited the fans are for the start of the 2015 season. Let’s hope the Mariners can live up to the expectations but regardless of how the season starts the fans need to fill up Safeco Field and show the players the support they deserve. By listening to the dugout dialogues you can tell how much personality this Mariners team has compared to years past. For example Tom Wilhelmson got up and danced on the dugout during his session. It was great and the crowd loved it.
ATTENDANCE
For the 3rd year in a row the Mariners broke attendance records for their FanFest. 17,952 in 2013, 21,019 in 2014. This year they set a 1 day record on Saturday with 11,906 then broke it on Sunday with 13,384 for a 2 day total of 25,290.
AUTOGRAPH BREAKDOWN
37 total autographs
33 on cards
3 on 8×10 photos
1 on a 2014 MLB All-Star Ball for Nelson Cruz