“Great Job Marianna”

For the past two weeks the City of Marianna has played host to three different state baseball tournaments at the MERE Complex / Optimist Park. These tournaments include the Dixie Youth Ozone (11 & 12 year olds), Dixie Jr. Boys (13 year olds) and Dixie Boys (14 year olds) state tournaments. Over the course of the past two weeks a total of 36 teams, comprised of 12 players on each team, from all over the state have made their way to our little corner of the world.

The economic impact this has on our little corner of the world can not be understated. I recognize that not all 36 teams stayed in Marianna as 6 teams were from Jackson County and several others were within easy driving distance. I would say though that ¾ of the teams did stay for at least a portion or all of their respective 5 day tournament. That’s staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, buying gasoline, site seeing and of course making the mandatory shopping trips to Wal-Mart to get the things that they forgot to bring. And even the teams that drove in from out of the county spent some of their hard earned cash eating at our restaurants and buying gasoline.

Last year the City of Marianna played host to the Dixie Girls World Series and I wrote a column about how well the event was organized and run. So I know I’ve said some of this before, but folks the reason that we can have these types of events in our small town, and reap the economic benefits, is because of the hard work of many local folks.

Chief among the locals is the City of Marianna Recreation Department. Clay Wells is the City Recreation Director and in my book has and is doing an outstanding job. The MERE / Optimist Park, as well as the other city parks, look great. His two trusty assistants are Jeff Faircloth and Jehron Clemmons. There may be others that I don’t know, but I do know that these three guys deserve a lot of credit. When you see them out and about, give them a pat on the back.

But the other thing that makes these tournaments so successful is the countless numbers of volunteers that have spent nearly two full weeks helping run these tournaments. Keeping scorebooks, pitching logs, doing public address, taking up tickets, running the hospitality room and working the concession stands are just a few of the things that non-paid volunteers do to keep the wheels of the tournaments running smoothly.

So to Clay Wells, the gang at the City Recreation Department and all the volunteers that have worked so hard these past two weeks, Simply Put, job well done. Now go kick back and relax somewhere. You’ve earned it.

From the Front Porch: Uncle Bob said it is true that all men are born free and equal, but some of them get married.