For all of their foibles, every year the Reds put together one of the finest events for baseball fans in the country. If you've never been to Redsfest, I highly recommend that you try to make it there because it is a whole lot of fun. The event runs this Friday (4-11pm) and Saturday (11am-7pm) and is a great opportunity to get a Reds fix just before the cold winter months settle upon us.
To give you a little overview of what happens at Redsfest, it's a large, wide-open floor of the Duke Energy Convention center where they have a variety of booths and activities. There's a wiffle ball field, batting cages, and a speed pitch, for you athletic types who accidentally stumbled upon this site. There's a main stage with player panels, "gameshows" and musical acts. And there are autograph booths and memorabilia stands all throughout. Oh yeah, and a sports bar for the alkies out there. The Reds have put a floor map (pdf) up on their website if you need more specifics.
Probably the coolest thing about the whole day is the interaction with the players. Some of this can only happen at the autograph booths, but occasionally you can be fortunate enough to bump into a player or coach just walking around the place. In 2006, I got to talk to Wayne Krivsky out his sweater collection:
The big news this year is the reunion of many of the players from the 1990 World Championship squad. I plan to stalk all of them and make them feel uncomfortable. It's sort of my thing.
So, are you planning to be there this weekend? If so, I'd love to meet you and put a face with a moniker, if I haven't done so already. I'll be there both Friday and Saturday, though I can't say yet when I'll be "walking the floor" if you will. If you are going to be there, let me know. Maybe I'll even buy you a beverage.