Tickets at $15, amateurs at the skills competition: the Capitals want to make the all-star game a big celebration for Quebec

With tickets for the Frontier League all-star game on sale for $15 and fans who will be able to participate in the skills competition, the Capitales want to make the event, which they will organize on July 16 and 17, a big celebration for Quebec. Like their matches in recent seasons at Stade Canac.

The happening promises to be big, according to the president of the double title holders of the circuit, Michel Laplante, and the vice-president, Charles Demers.

“It’s a privilege to be able to host this all-star game and we want to make sure that it’s grandiose, that we remember it, that we’re able to set the bar very, very high,” declared the first, Tuesday, during a press conference.

High, yes – notably by the potential arrival of a well-known music group, about which the organization did not want to talk too much – but accessible too.

Thus, tickets for the skills competition, which will take place on the 16th, are available from $5.

That day, before the evening circuit competition, the format of which has yet to be determined, free baseball workshops will be given on the Stade Canac field.

“Free for everyone”

Amateur baseball players will also be able to compete against stars of the independent circuit during the skills competition.

“All people from Quebec City, from Quebec, will be able to come and measure their skills on the field […]it will be free for everyone,” underlined Charles Demers.

Then, on July 17, a minor baseball tournament will be organized before the big game, in which the East and the West will oppose each other, with head coach Michel Laplante and former pitcher Éric Gagné, respectively.

“I had the first choice, so I took the East, because it allowed me to have the best coach in Patrick Scalabrini,” said Michel Laplante with a laugh.

Not a bad way to ‘cruise’

The two days of festivities, organized under the presidency of Miles Wolff, the founder and former owner of the Capitales, will be at the heart of the 25^e anniversary of the concession.

And they are already attracting a lot of interest from the 15 other teams in the Frontier League, assures Charles Demers.

“It’s a delegation of more than 200 people [dont peut-être l’acteur Bill Murray, nouveau propriétaire des Slammers de Joliet] across the league who will come to Quebec to discover the city, he said. The owners, the general managers, the coaches, the players, the members of the organizations… So for us, it’s really important to make the city shine.”

They will therefore be invited to visit Quebec. They will go to Île d’Orléans, play golf at the Royal Québec, participate in the traditional banquet which will take place at the Château Frontenac, and they will eat – of course! – poutine.

Because after all, as a colleague pointed out, it’s not a bad way to “cruise” potential new players…

The “blue and gold»

Michel Laplante is delighted to be able to host the event in a “league which is increasingly strong”, within which Quebec has already carved out a very enviable place for itself.

Another city was supposed to organize it, but it agreed to hand over the reins to the Capitals for their quarter century.

But above all, Laplante hopes that during these two days, Quebec “is blue and gold“. “We want to demonstrate the proximity [avec les citoyens]and that’s something I’ve never seen in an all-star game.”