The Arkadelphia High School Athletic Department and the Badger All-Sports Booster club will host the annual BadgerFest and "Meet the Badgers at AllCare Field at Badger Stadium" events Friday night, August 21, at Arkadelphia High School.
BadgerFest, presented by the Badger All-Sports Booster Club, will be from 5:30-6:30 in the Arkadelphia High School parking lot. Meet the Badgers, a time for Badger and Lady Badger fans to see introductions of some of the 2015-16 Badger and Lady Badger athletic teams, spirit squads, and band will begin at 7:00 inside AllCare Field at Badger Stadium.
Admission to Meet the Badgers will be $2 and gates will be open at 6:00. Proceeds from the event go toward athletic department purchases for the school year such as laundry detergent for practice and game uniforms, meals for teams traveling out of town, and other needs that arise throughout the year.
Arkadelphia Athletic Director Chris Babb encourages fans to come out to the unofficial kickoff to the 2015-16 sports season.
“It was a short summer for everybody, but even shorter for many of our athletes, spirit squad members and band members as they’ve been practicing for the upcoming year for weeks,” Babb said. “Even though some seasons have already started, BadgerFest and Meet the Badgers is our unofficial signal the beginning of the sports year,” said Babb. “We have had great crowds in the past and we look forward to a great crowd Friday night.”
BadgerFest will feature local businesses and APSD teams and groups hosting booths in a carnival-type set up in the parking lot in front of AHS with various fundraisers and ways to showcase their business or group. Businesses or groups interested in setting up a booth or table free of charge can contact Babb at 870-246-7373 ext. 606 or e-mail chris.babb@arkadelphiaschools.org. Interested parties may also contact Miranda Bebee with the Badger All-Sports Booster Club at 870-245-2323 or mchilds@suddenlinkmail.com.
There will be a dunking booth on hand with several APSD personnel taking a turn on the hot seat. Those scheduled to be in the dunking booth with their times are:
5:30 Chris Babb, APSD Athletic Director
5:40 Jenny Coon, Lady Badger Volleyball head coach and asst. girls’ basketball coach
5:50 Callie Hunley, Perritt Primary Principal
6:00 Angela Garner, Goza Middle School Principal
6:10 David Maxwell, AHS Principal
6:20 Dr. Casey Motl, APS Board of Education
The Badger Booster Club will be holding a membership drive for the 2015-16 school year for individuals and businesses to support the various APSD Athletic teams and/or spirit groups. Members can designate 75% of their gift to a particular sport of their choice with the rest going to the general Booster Club fund.
“We encourage individuals to join the Badger All-Sports Booster Club to support our students throughout the year,” said Babb. “Our teams directly benefit from your membership in the All-Sports Booster Club and we’re proud that members have the ability to support any of our almost 20 teams and spirit groups.”
Also available at a tent at BadgerFest will be 2015-16 APSD Season Passes. Adult All-Sports passes will be $100 and Student All-Sports passes will be available for $80. Individual sport season passes for fall sports will also be available. Football passes will be available for $30 (students and adults) which will be good for junior high and senior high games and volleyball season passes (again for junior and senior high) will be available for $30 (students and adults.)
New for 2015-16 will be a family pass available for $250 that will get four family members in to all regular season home games for any APSD athletic team. Each family member after 4 would be an additional $40. All season pass information will be available on an order form Friday night.
At the conclusion of BadgerFest, the annual Meet the Badgers program will be inside AllCare Field at Badger Stadium beginning at 7:00 with the AHS JROTC Color Guard and Badger Pride Marching Band kicking things off with the National Anthem.
Scheduled to be introduced Friday night (in order of their appearance) are:
Goza cheerleaders
Goza Jazzlers
8th grade volleyball
9th grade volleyball
8th grade football
9th grade football
AHS Volleyball
AHS Golf
AHS Tennis
AHS Swimming/Diving
Dazzlers
AHS Cheer
AHS Band
AHS Football
