DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Dunedin Blue Jays held their home opener at TD Ballpark Thursday night. It wasn’t just a great day for players and fans, but for stores and restaurants up and down Main Street.
Most of these fans walk right past their doors and it’s a big boost when it comes to business.
“Very exciting, very exciting, because we definitely need it, we definitely need it,” said Nancy Rosa, manager of The Living Room on Main. “We want the business, it helps us keep our doors open and everybody has their jobs still, so that’s fantastic.”
Down the street at Casa Tina, they say their sales increase by at least 20 percent on game days.
“We look forward to it, we go from pretty steady chill vibes to like, you’re in it, you’re in it to win it for sure, for like a solid couple of months so that’s always a good feeling,” said Kaila Ramirez, bar manager at Casa Tina.
It’s not just food and beverages fans are looking for inside Back in the Day Books; they make sure to keep their sports section stocked.
“Oh, it’s huge when the team comes to town you see whole families coming in dressed in their Blue Jay gear, they spend an hour here looking around, they usually buy something for their kids, yea it has a huge impact on our business,” said store employee Mary Thompson.
From banners to signs to paintings on windows, it is evident that Dunedin is proud to be home to the Blue Jays' single-A team.
“We get to see different people from all different areas and of course we are excited to have our Canadians back,” said Rosa.
One of those Canadians is die-hard Blue Jays fan Chris Szun from Winnipeg. He said seeing all the Blue Jay love makes him feel extremely welcome.
“It feels great, it’s interesting to be right across the continent from where we live but you get these little reminders of home, there is certainly a Dunedin Canada connection that we feel pretty strongly about,” said Szun.
Chris doesn’t mind bragging to his friends back home about his travels, where there is still snow on the ground.
“Certainly, becoming a regular yearly trip that we’ll continue to plan for in the future,” said Szun.
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