OLD BALL GAME New Excitement at the

Don’t Miss Special Theme Nights with the Kane County Cougars

By Chris Walker | Photos courtesy of Kane County Cougars

The late, great Harry Caray used to say, “You can’t beat fun at the old ballpark,” and you can’t beat the fun of the remaining Kane County Cougars theme nights this summer at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

“We take a lot of pride in family fun,” says Claire Jacobi, director of public relations and promotions for the Cougars. “We’ve been doing it since 1991. The priority is to entertain, and the baseball is a big part of it, but we have something fun for everyone.”

There’s something big coming on July 13. If you know what Michael Scott would say if you read that sentence aloud then you certainly won’t want to miss The Office Night on July 13.

If you do somehow miss The Office Night, a good way to get over it would be to put on any Hawaiian shirt and come out to the ballpark the following night for Hawaiian Night.

“We get pretty good participation from people for our theme nights, so with a Hawaiian cap giveaway, people should wear a Hawaiian shirt,” Jacobi says. “We’ll have dancers from Aloha Chicago that perform between innings, and they’ll do fire dance post-game.”

Come out to the ballpark and celebrate Christmas in July on July 15, followed by the Cougars taking on their alternate identity as the Atomic Pork Chops the following night.

Definitely the most popular night for man’s best friend, Bark in the Park returns to Northwestern Medicine Field on Aug. 1. Dogs are admitted for free on the lawn for the evening’s game and a variety of special fun is being planned for both you and your pooch, making it a fantastic way to enjoy the dog days of summer with your canine, watching baseball and probably eating a couple hot dogs, too.

There’s a lot to choose from in early August as over the course of just four days, the Cougars will be hosting Video Game Night on Aug. 3, followed by Stranger Things Night on Aug. 4, The Sandlot Night on Aug. 5 and Princess Day on Aug. 6.

“The Stranger Things one is a newer one that didn’t get a lot of traction, so we’re doing it on a Friday night, and we’ll have a bobblehead giveaway which is always huge for us,” Jacobi says. “It’s supposed to be the Demogorgon, which is the monster, so we’re calling it the creature bobblehead.” Far less scary and much more amiable than a Demogorgon is a princess and there will be plenty of them at the park on Princess Day.

“They love seeing the real princesses in big pretty dresses,” Jacobi says. “We like to see a lot of young girls come out dressed that way, too. It’s so much fun for the kids.”

Theme Nights return to the ballpark on Aug. 17 with North Central College Night followed by American Girl Night on Aug. 18 and Seinfeld Night on Aug. 19.

If you’re one who celebrates Festivus and has George Costanza “Timeless Heart of Seduction” or Cosmo Kramer artwork hanging in your home, you’re going to want to make it back out for Seinfeld Night and a special surprise guest is also in the works. It’s going to get Joliet’s Mickey Wiers to travel back out to Geneva again this summer.

“I love coming out to the park and schmoozing with people who love Seinfeld as much as I love (Bruce) Springsteen,” Wiers says. “Seinfeld boldly went where no other show has ever gone. It’s the GOAT (greatest of all time) so it’s a lot of fun to come out and give it the love it deserves.”

The end of the season will feature three great final theme nights for 2023 with Tie-Dye Night on Sept. 1, followed by Star Wars Night on Sept. 2 and 80s Night on Sept. 3.

Batavia teen Tyler Lacasse was able to enjoy Star Wars Night a year ago. While he’s not sure what his plans are for this year, he most definitely recommends it for Star Wars fans.

“My dad was a huge Star Wars fan so I’ve always been a fan and would 100% do it all over again,” the 16-year-old said. “It was very cool and a lot of fun. I didn’t get to dress up like some people did. I get out to Cougars game whenever I can. It’s not expensive and a lot of fun, especially when they do things like Star Wars Night.”

In addition to the theme nights, Northwestern Medicine Field puts on fireworks shows on most Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights immediately following Cougars games win or lose. Remaining dates for fireworks for the rest of 2023 include, July 1-2, 13-15; Aug. 3-5, 18-19; Sept. 1-3. The Cougars have partnered with Pyrotecnico to provide mindblowing fireworks this year, including MEGA presentations on July 15, Aug. 15 and Sept. 2.

“It’s worth all the work we put in just to see all the smiling faces at the ballpark,” Jacobi says. “It’s really cool to get to meet all the people who come out to a packed ballpark looking to have fun and being here to offer that great, family fun experience.”

Like Harry said, “you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark,” so get out to Northwestern Medicine Field soon.