February 1, 2017 at 3:24 p.m.
Packer tailgate tour to stop in Rhinelander April 7
Packer tailgate tour to stop in Rhinelander April 7
The April 7 stop will be at Rhinelander High School with 100 percent of the proceeds from the event going to the Northwoods Alliance for Temporary Housing (NATH) and the Frederick Place homeless shelter. The customized motor coach will arrive at 6 p.m. and festivities at RHS will run until 8:30 p.m., according to a press release announcing the tour stops.
Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy, current players Brett Hundley, Aaron Ripkowski and Jake Ryan and Packers alumni Robert Ferguson, Ahman Green and Ryan Longwell will be on the tour, the release states.
The Rhinelander stop will be the fourth of the five-stop tour which will start in Medford April 4 before heading to Ashland on April 5, Houghton, Mich. on April 6 and Iron Mountain, Mich. April 8.
Tammy Modic, executive director of NATH/Frederick Place, said she and a select committee of organizers have been aware of the tour stop since Aug. 18, but had to keep it secret until the Packers organization made the formal announcement Tuesday morning. A small committee of planners, sworn to secrecy, began planning for the event immediately, Modic said.
"We have secured sponsors, but it's been on a as needed (to know) basis with the caveat that we cannot be sharing this," Modic said. "There was a lot that needed to get done, but it would be so much easier once the press release comes out. We heard (the release would be issued in) mid-January, then still January. When they kept playing, I think it pushed everything back. Originally, tickets were going to go on sale Friday, and NATH's anniversary is Saturday."
Modic said it is her understanding that the team originally reached out to the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce seeking an organization to host and benefit from the stop. Chamber officials put them in contact with her.
"We have a little bit of history with the Packers in that we have had their autographed footballs in a bunch of our fundraisers," she said. "And they ask you to monitor how much you've made and follow up with them. So we weren't a totally unknown entity to them."
Since the Aug. 18 meeting, Modic said it has been tough to keep the secret.
"All we knew until yesterday was that we would have three alumni, three current players plus Mark Murphy," she said. "Then yesterday, I got the press release listing the players that were coming. Then I had to keep that secret for 24 hours until the official press release was issued by the Packers today."
Modic said there will be three different levels of tickets available for the event. The top level, V.I.P., can only be obtained by being a sponsor.
"We have a couple different sponsor packages available yet for people to take a look at," Modic said.
The V.I.P. event with the tour participants will take place at 5 p.m. April 7 at Mulligans Restaurant and Pub at Northwood Golf Course, and only 75 tickets are available for that. There will be a question-and-answer session and autograph session. V.I.P.s will also get a souvenir, meal and two beverages of their choice.
From the golf course, the tour bus will be given a police and fire escort to the high school. There will be two types of tickets available for the events at the high school; event tickets at $30 each and $10 activity tickets. Those with event tickets will receive a souvenir picture of all six players, a meal, two beverages and an autograph. There will be 600 event tickets available, with 400 going on sale Monday morning. The activity ticket is required to enter the building and those holding them will be allowed to participate in the activities, question-and- answer session (but no autograph) with the players and basket raffles. They will have to purchase their meal separately. Modic said volunteers will have to have an activity ticket to work the event.
"We have built that into the budget, they won't be paying for that, but we want everyone there to have that ticket," she said.
In addition to the basket raffles, there will be a bounce house, corn hole toss and other activities in addition to the meal.
"We are trying to do as much of a true tailgate as we can, but it happens to be during Lent. So we will be having hamburgers, hot dogs and brats as well as some kind of a tuna melt, because it is on Friday," Modic said.
As a fundraiser, Modic said the Packers told her NATH could raise between $25,000 and $125,000, depending on how many sponsors they are able to secure.
"The biggest thing now is expenses. Not all of our sponsors are full yet, so that is one piece of the puzzle," she said. "There are still 40 of the V.I.P. tickets left, and we have been working diligently behind the scenes trying to secure sponsors to cover the costs."
She said Trig's will be donating all the brats, and NATH is working with Coke, which is a Packers sponsor, for soft drinks. There are other potential sponsors for items such as buns and plates and other items that if they were donated would help maximize how much money goes to NATH. The holdup was waiting for the formal announcement from the Packers so the organizing committee can solicit them in the open without being hamstrung by secrecy.
The lowest level of sponsorship is event sponsor, which costs $100. Event sponsors will be listed in the event program. First down sponsors will receive four event tickets and two activity tickets for $250. Only five of those are left, Modic said.
Field goal sponsors get all of the previously mentioned incentives along with two V.I.P. tickets for a donation of $500. Touchdown sponsorships will receive four V.I.P. tickets, five event tickets and five activity tickets at a cost of $1,000.
Modic said the event sponsorships help cover the volunteer activity tickets, the cost of the T-shirts and other incidental costs of putting on the event.
She said she was told that Houghton expects to sell out their allotment of $30 tickets in two hours.
"The Packers have told us that between one day and two days, they expect us to be sold out," Modic said. "We're putting our teams together to be at Trig's and at Best Embroideries Monday morning at 8 a.m. and hope to get the lines moving as fast as we can. The goal would be by 4 p.m that afternoon, to be sold out because from there, we can move forward and plan."
In addition to volunteers, Modic said people can also donate cash to purchase Packers items for raffles or donate jerseys, tickets to games or other memorabilia, gift baskets for raffles and silent auctions, and paper products, plates, napkins and flatware for 800 people.
She said volunteers, donors or sponsors should contact her by email at [email protected].
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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