By Staff
Our View
Citizens of Atmore can expect to see baseball caps, cleats and gloves galore this July when the town will host two Cal Ripken League baseball tournaments.
The tournament dates are July 5-9 for age 12 and July 12-16 for age 10. Both of these tournaments will host 10 teams and will include 22 games each.
The impact of these tournaments on the community has the potential to be tremendous. Out of the 20 teams that are participating, 16 of them will need a hotel.
Not only will the children need a place to sleep, so will families and friends of these junior Yogi Berra's. The Best Western has already agreed to support the tournaments; however, this is not the only place that will be taken over by baseball fanatics.
With the magnitude of 10 and 12 year old boys that will be running through the streets of Atmore, one can only imagine that the food intake at the time of these tournaments is going to expand immensely. Food establishments should probably stock up on meat and potatoes, since there are going to be a lot of little men running around who will need energy to participate in these games.
The gift shops should expect some an impact from these tournaments as well. The mothers, grandmothers and sisters of the participants may stray away from the baseball field just long enough to do some window-shopping downtown.
Also, the amount of fuel bought during these weekends will also go up due to the high amounts of traffic that will be in town. There are participants from different areas of Alabama, and they will have to buy fuel at the local gas stations to make their way back home.
Beware citizens of Atmore; your town is going to be taken over come July for these tournaments. But please remember to show your support because the teams and the family members will be supporting the community in their own way.