Festival welcomes Cy Young winner Eric Gagne
The 2003 Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Eric Gagne visits Newcomerstown for the 2023 Cy Young Days Festival.
This year’s Cy Young Days Festival will be held June 23-25 with more activities and more food at various locations around Newcomerstown.
Eric Gagne, a relief pitcher with the L.A. Dodgers when he won the Cy Young Award in 2003, will be honored at the luncheon and serve as the grand parade marshal.
Gagne was 23 years old when he began playing for the Dodgers in 1999. He also has played for the Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. His nickname was Game Over.
“He has been wanting to come to Newcomerstown as he was wanting to go out to the grave site and see where Cy Young is buried,” said Ed Gibson, president of the Cy Young Days Festival. “That’s one thing we do — we take the ballplayer out and have them put a wreath on the grave when they’re here.”
Gagne will attend the luncheon at the Labors Local Hall 134 at 150 N. River St. in Newcomerstown on Saturday, June 24. The local hall will sponsor the event.
Doors will open at 11:30 a.m., and lunch will be at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children under 12. Reservations can be made by calling 740-498-8562.
Gagne isn’t able to stay for Sunday’s events, so he won’t throw any pitches but will autograph a baseball to be given to Polly Porcher, whose late husband Ron was instrumental in helping to organize the festival.
The festival committee did not have a T-shirt design contest this year but will have two different designs of T-shirts at this year’s festival. Both feature a photo of Cy Young on the front, one when the player was younger and another when he was older.
“We’re going to have his top nine stats put on the back of the shirts so people can see what he actually achieved, and nobody has broken those yet,” Gibson said.
Festival-goers can look forward to a lot of activities and entertainment this year.
“We’re going to have laser tag this year. We’ve never had it. It will be in a 50-by-60-foot tent,” Gibson said. “We’re having Putt-Putt Golf this year; we haven’t had that for a while. We’re going to be having three bands this year.”
The festival committee will have raffle tickets available at the festival as one of their fundraisers. They accept donations for the festival year round and hold two to three raffles each year to raise the funds needed to put on the festival.
During the festival, volunteers are always needed to help. Members of the Cy Young Days royal court also provide help with the festival.
“They are a good bunch of kids and a lot of fun to be around,” Gibson said.
The opportunity to meet a baseball great is one of the things Gibson looks forward to at the festival.
“It’s something not everybody gets to do to meet all of these former Cy Young Award winners. It’s quite a privilege to be able to do that. Baseball’s been a part of my life because I coached for 50 years,” Gibson said of volunteering his time to youth baseball.
Gibson credited the Cy Young Days Festival committee for the work it does every year to keep the festival alive. New committee members are always welcome, and they don’t have to be from Newcomerstown to get involved.
“We want to welcome everybody to our festival this coming year,” Gibson said. “We’ve got more things going on for people to do and more food stands than we’ve had in the past.”
The annual Cy Young Festival schedule includes the following:
—Friday, June 23: Tents and concessions will open at 5 p.m. with opening ceremonies on the Canal Street stage, cornhole tournament sign-ups will begin at 5:30 p.m., an introduction of the new festival queen and her court will be at the Canal Street stage at 6 p.m. with the cornhole tournament downtown, and The Moonlyterz will perform from 8-11 p.m.
—Saturday, June 24: Luncheon with Eric Gagne will be at Labors Local Hall 134 with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. and lunch at 12:30 p.m., a bat auction will be held during the luncheon, tents and concessions will open at noon, a juggler will be at Canal Street stage at 3:30 p.m. followed by balloons throughout the festival area until 5:30 p.m., the parade lineup will begin at Newcomerstown High School at 4:30 p.m., the parade will start at 6 p.m., royalty and visiting royalty introductions will be at Canal Street stage at 6:45 p.m., Gagne will do the autograph signing at the Olde Main Street Museum at 7 p.m., Magic Nate’s Magic Show will be at the Canal Street stage at 7 p.m., and Red Neck Inc. will perform from 8-11 p.m.
—Sunday, June 25: Ron Porcher Vintage Base Ball Games will begin at Cy Young Park at 10 a.m., the talent show will be at Canal Street stage at 11 a.m., concessions will open downtown at noon, registration for the car show on Main Street will begin at 1 p.m., Victorious KayBirds will perform at 2 p.m., car show registration will end at 3 p.m., a pet show will take place at 3 p.m., and the car show awards and closing of the festival will be at 5 p.m.
For more information and the list of 2023 sponsors, visit the festival’s website at www.cyyoungdaysfestival.com.