Fanzone to include a marquee for the next two games
Shrewsbury Town’s Fanzone is set for a new look on for the home game against Blackburn Rovers with a marquee set to be erected.
The Fanzone has proved a great success since its introduction last season, but with the weather starting to take a turn for the worse, the club has decided to bring in a marquee for the next couple of games.
Head of Community, Jamie Edwards, is hopeful that the new look will allow the Fanzone to flourish throughout the season.
“We always knew that the weather wasn’t going to be as great as it is in some different countries around the world, so an outdoor Fanzone isn’t going to work throughout the season”, admitted Jamie.
“We are really lucky that Jigsaw Marquees have come along and along with MPM Catering we want to make sure we can provide the Fanzone with some cover, so there will be a marquee there for the next two games.”
“It’s really important to see if it’s viable because obviously it is going to add running costs to have that in place, so we need to make sure it’s supported.
“We’ve had quite a lot of people coming even in the wet weather and we’ve averaged an okay number, but it needs to be more to make it viable if we want to keep the marquee and keep it going through the season.”
The Fanzone has included music again this season and Jamie was quick to praise Chris Allen for his hard work in helping run the music side of the operation.
“I’ve got to say a big thank you to Chris Allen who has done really well in terms of bringing the fans in”, Edwards said.
“All the bands that have played have been slightly different to the others and I think everyone’s enjoyed it. They’ve all given up their time for free as well to keep the costs down and make it a viable project.
“If it continues to work then we might look at putting a DJ in there and we’ve spoken to Andy Tretton about getting ex-players down before the game, which would be great as well.”
Edwards is now looking for fans to come forward and help with the running of the Fanzone in the future.
“What we are looking for to go forward is a committee of fans that want to be involved in the Fanzone”, Jamie continued.
“We don’t want them to give up loads of time, but it might be that they sell raffle tickets, or we might want more kid’s activities in there, or we might have some people that spread the word and get more people to utilise it.
“As part of the Premier League Fans Fund funding it had to be a fan-led project, so we would like the fans to really take ownership of it. We aren’t asking them to give hours of time, but one meeting a month to plan out what the next month of the Fanzone will look like would be fantastic.”