{"id":20899,"date":"2024-08-27T14:19:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/eau-claire-express\/?p=20899"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:19:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:19:25","slug":"a-letter-from-the-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/eau-claire-express\/2024\/08\/27\/a-letter-from-the-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter From The Owner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dear Express Fans,<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em>\u00a0<\/em>The 2024 Eau Claire Express season was one for the ages. With countless records broken, including the shattering of our single-season home run record (now 74 home runs!), it was a season our family will not soon forget. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have made this possible. And I send a very special thank you to you, our fans, employees, sponsors, players, and the winningest coaches in Northwoods League history, Dale Varsho and Vic Cable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our full-time staff, Dale Varsho, Sammi Kreuser-Costello, Ben Teske, and Nick Aldrich, work year-round prepping for our season.\u00a0 Caleb Timm joined us before the season to fill out our marketing department for the summer.\u00a0 Pete Knutson called our video broadcasts on Northwoods League + and Noah Schwartz our radio broadcasts on Moose Country 106.7.\u00a0 Thank you for all you have done to pack Carson Park and make our games so enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our team would not be able to operate without our intern staff, and I cannot thank them enough for their time and energy this summer. I am proud to send them either back to school or out into the world, knowing that they are set to dominate whatever field of work they choose.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Without Host Families, the Northwoods League would cease to exist.\u00a0 They are the backbone of our team and make our players feel like they are at home.\u00a0 Thank you to Melinda Huth, Anita Coenen, and Jess LaBrec for coordinating our Host Family program and for making it so rewarding for all those involved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Our game day employees are vital to our operation, and it is heartwarming to see many of the same faces come back year after year. It lets me know that they enjoy their job, have made friends, and look forward to every summer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">This season, we had a Culver\u2019s Youth Team of the Night every single game and teams from as far away as Gilmanton.\u00a0 We are so excited about this program that we are looking to expand it for next season.\u00a0 We are fortunate to have so many opportunities for kids to play baseball in every city in the area, and we are glad to help build on that excitement with the Eau Claire Express.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you to the City of Eau Claire for providing us with such a great venue as Carson Park. The Parks and Rec Department does an excellent job keeping our grass field among the best in the Northwoods League, and their work does not go unnoticed. We are very thankful for that relationship and all their help with 87-year-old Carson Park.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though we have the name \u201cEau Claire Express,\u201d we are not just Eau Claire\u2019s team.\u00a0 Thank you to the fans from Altoona, Chippewa Falls, Menomonie, and more who come to our games throughout the summer.\u00a0 Fans from throughout America visit Carson Park and stay in our local hotels.\u00a0 This summer, we even had visitors from Italy getting their first exposure to baseball!\u00a0 The Eau Claire Express makes a significant economic impact on the Greater Chippewa Valley, and we appreciate that!<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">We approach this upcoming season with optimism for the future.\u00a0 We saw what a great addition the Wipfli Zone was to Carson Park and it has invigorated us to continue on our work of improving Carson Park.\u00a0 We hope the city will agree with us and continue to make Carson Park the perfect mixture of baseball history and current gameday experience and comfort.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for a memorable 2024 season.\u00a0 I am so excited to see you all at the ballpark again in 2025! #RollTrains<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Craig Toycen<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eau Claire Express Owner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Express Fans, \u00a0The 2024 Eau Claire Express season was one for the ages. With countless records broken, including the  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,45,126,27,43,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","category-permanentslider","category-permanentslider-team-news","category-league-news","category-team-news","category-update-ticker-all-categories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Letter From The Owner - Eau Claire Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/eau-claire-express\/2024\/08\/27\/a-letter-from-the-owner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Letter From The Owner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Express Fans, \u00a0The 2024 Eau Claire Express season was one for the ages. 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