Lake Erie Crushers, Frontier League & Huntington WVA

On my way up to Cleveland Browns stadium this weekend I made a detour and headed west to the small town of Avon OH. A new baseball team and stadium had come up on my radar screen (actually computer) and I just had to check it out.

I’d heard that there was a team named the Lake Erie Crushers playing over in my old neighborhood Lorain County. I was in the area and it was only a 30 minute drive from downtown Cleveland so it was worth the trip. Oh was it worth the trip!

I was overwhelmed by my discovery. Right off of I 90 the city of Avon had constructed a state of the art 5,000 plus seat stadium and attracted the Lake Erie Crushers a Frontier League baseball team. In addition to the Crushers the plans are to have tournaments, concerts and other events at the venue.

A few years ago there was only a gas station, fast food restaurant and plenty of open space at this interchange. Today there are a couple of hotels, a few more restaurants, construction of a new YMCA and plenty of signs of future development.

I close my eyes and envision the same possibilities at Huntington’s Kinetic Park. Build it and they will come. Build it and more will come. A family restaurant, sports pub, retail shop or another hotel may want to share this hot spot.

As a travel guy why do I care? It’s a multiple part answer. First I’m a baseball junkie and I’d love to travel the few miles to Huntington to catch the Herd and others play ball. Secondly I’m all for growing inbound tourism and generating revenue. Adding to your tourism infrastructure will bring in money. Money will help create jobs. I believe it’s a win-win situation.