If I, Gabe Berke, was an event, what it would look like? Well, probably something just like this:
I partnered with my community's local baseball team, the Royal Oak Leprechauns, and Rebel Dogs Detroit, a local dog resuce that I have personally fostered from, to put together this event. The goal was to bring our communty together to break the stigmas surrounding cannabis and its role in the community, get some rescues adopted, and enjoy some baseball.
A record-breaking night filled with community, baseball, and of course, dogs.
Bark in the Park was the first event that I not only planned, but also conceptualized and executed entirely on my own. Because of this, I was able to intertwine my personal values with my brand’s mission. As a result, Bark in the Park was born and it soon became the highest-attended, most ticketed game in Leprechaun Baseball history.
For the first time ever, the Leprechauns sold out of tickets a day before the game. Not only that, but to accommodate additional fans, we printed 200 standing-room-only tickets, which sold out within minutes. At that point, we had already broken all previous ticketing records, but we weren’t done yet. Even though we had run out of tickets, we didn’t want to shut anyone out. So, the Leprechauns staff began allowing people to pay at the gate without a ticket. In total, we had around 1,300 attendees come to watch what became the most successful game ever played at Memorial Park in Royal Oak, MI.
Designed by the incredible, Phil Simpson, we created what was essentially a giant coloring book page. It gave everyone in attendance the opportunity to work together on one project and allowed the kids to express their own creative freedoms. This piece became symbolic of the event in showing the creativity, collaboration, and livliness amongst our community.
This piece now hangs proudly at DogHouse Farms.
All of the rescue dogs were all outfitted with DogHouse bandanas to ensure they looked the part for their big day. We also printed out plenty of extras to hand out to all the dogs in attendance so that all of our furry attendees could be apart of the fun.
What better to rememeber a one of a kind night than a poster you can proudly put up on ypur wall? With the designing and creative genius of Phil Simpson, we were able to create a poster that would make this event live on forever. Phil was generous enough to come sign the posters live in person to hand out to the first 100 people that walked into the stadium.
(yes, it was a strike)