Campers enjoy baseball from a different vantage point

Thanks to the KOA (Kampgrounds of America) local baseball fans, as well as the ones who are just passing through the area, can enjoy a Tennessee Smokies baseball game while sitting next to a campfire and enjoying a nice view down the first baseline. KOA is located on the hillside that sits West of Smokies Park. When the stadium was built three years ago fans quickly picked up on the convenience of the location and its’ proximity to the campground. The ‘KOA crowd’, as it has been named by some of the people at the stadium, has numbered into the hundreds on some game nights. At the recent “Down From the Mountain” concert that was held at the park, camp ground employees say that they had their largest crowd ever, with the entire hillside full of spectators. “They’ve been watching ever since they built the stadium,” said KOA clerk Tammy Byrd. “We have great crowds. We have some campers that come here just to watch the game and some locals who store their camper here so they can come and watch the games and spend a weekend camping.” “There was a large crowd for the concert Tuesday night,” added Tammy Mueller, who is also employed by KOA. “It was probably our largest one yet. We usually have big crowds on Friday nights because they shoot off fireworks after the game.” The campground says that they are getting more locals that elect to come in and set up camp and enjoy a series at the stadium while cooking out. The campers have to pay to camp first and are charged five dollars for any extra car that joins their campsite. “What they usually do, is one person will get a campsite and they will invite friends to come in and have dinner with them,” said Mueller. “They usually split the cost of a campsite and the ones that come in, pay an extra five dollars.” The regulars at Smokies Park and the staff that work there seem to have decided to find the campground audience charming, in a Minor League Baseball kind of way. “We have seats in section 114 but I decided to just pull up here and cook my own steaks and drink my own beer and not pay the stadium prices,” said camper Doug Hutchens of Seymour. “We’re big Smokies fans though. We follow them around, I was down in Chattanooga last week and saw them play down there against the Lookouts.” “We’ve been here for about a week. There was a big crowd up here on Saturday night and the on the night of the concert the whole hillside was solid with people, Hutchens added.” Mueller, whose father-in-law runs the campground, says that KOA sends out Smokies schedules with reservation conformations and they try to tell the people who come in to camp if there is a baseball game that they can watch from their campsite. “It gives them something to do that they don’t have to leave the campsite for, everyone seems to really enjoy it,” said Mueller.