Sports Editor
The 43rd CSU Bakersfield Athletics Spring Barbecue is set for its return on May 14 at the Icardo Center.
However, there are a few new additions to this year’s event.
According to Assistant Athletic Director for Communications, Corey Costelloe, some of the new additions to the event are bringing on the band Truxton Mile and with the collaboration of the Student Recreation Center, they will have the SRC Student Spot Zone.
Director of Marketing Brynn Conapitski said that in the SRC Student Spot Zone, students will have a student DJ section.
There will also be other games and activities for students to participate in such as cornhole and speed-pitching cages. Fans will get to test their fastball speed and get a chance to win Dodgers tickets thanks to Fox Sports Radio 970.
“I think there’s more interactive game opportunities and stuff like that this year than just eat dinner and hangout with friends,” Costelloe said. “I think it adds that almost tailgate atmosphere to it this year to make it a little more fun.”
Head chefs Gary and Adam Icardo and their team will prepare dinner with Harris Ranch N.Y. Steak or teriyaki chicken. The dinner will be served from 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Besides Truxton Mile, the other live entertainment will be Foster Campbell and Friends.
Tickets are $30 and they can be purchased at Vons (Marketplace and Stockdale Highway locations), all three Lengthwise locations, both Mexicali Restaurant locations and Firehouse Restaurant on White Lane.
They will also be available at the door the night of the event for $35.
Costelloe added that the overall purpose for the barbecue is to raise money for the Roadrunner Scholarship.
“It is one of the main fundraiser for the scholarship, especially this time of the year in May when they are in the middle of their fund drive to try and get money for next year,” he said.
He said that they are hoping for more students this year.
“That is the target of the student zone,” he said.
He added that people from around Bakersfield have dubbed this as the premier social event.
“It is just a great time,” he said. “We have people from all age groups and it’s like a Bakersfield tradition. It really is. Forty-three years later it’s a tradition in the spring. There are people who come to this event that we never see at games. The one time they come to campus, and it’s for the barbecue, so that’s kind of a good chance for students to be a part of something that Bakersfield has pretty much deemed as an annual tradition.”
