TORONTO — Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland in Central Florida has been the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers for the last 90 years. It’s the longest-standing relationship between an MLB team and its current spring training city.
With the Tigers playing the Blue Jays at Toronto’s Rogers Centre this past Friday, Visit Central Florida, in partnership with Visit Detroit, took the opportunity to host guests in a Marriott Skybox to learn more about the two destinations during a beautiful evening of baseball.
“Visit Central Florida likes to collaborate with other destinations and Lakeland is the biggest city in our region. This ballgame is a great opportunity to join with Detroit and promote both areas to the local travel trade and media,” explained Christopher Follenus, Travel Industry Sales Supervisor for Visit Central Florida.
Christopher Follenus and Jennifer Ollinger enjoying the ball game
For those who’ve never been to spring training, Follenus shared his experience, telling Travelweek that “spring training venues feel like the movie experience. It’s like your grandpa’s baseball. You can get that romantic baseball experience.”
The Central Florida region is located between Orlando and Tampa, and its biggest attraction is LEGOLAND Florida Resort in Winter Haven, which has three hotels and three theme parks in one complex. “Our area is more the old Florida, meaning orange grove tours and the original cowboys of North America that came in with the Spanish and are still there. We’re the original area for North American ranching culture following Spanish settlement in the 16th century. Also, we have 550 lakes with plenty of activities like pontoon tours, and there are many farm-to-table experiences culinary experiences in our region. We offer a little bit more of a relaxed and affordable side of Florida and are still close to larger metro areas,” described Follenus.
This year, Merlin Entertainments will be launching SEA LIFE Florida at LEGOLAND, joining Merlin’s global group of over 50 SEA LIFE aquariums. This year will also see the opening of LEGO Ferrari Build and Race experience at the theme park.
“Polk County Florida is very popular with Canadian snowbirds, so we have many villas, vacation homes and longer-term accommodations. Agents can contact us with advice when trying to place clients in these types of accommodations,” said Follenus.
“Also worth keeping in mind, our area is very strong for children with special needs. The Peppa Pig theme park was America’s first autism-certified theme park, and it has been extended to all other attractions in our area. We’re happy to assist with any requests; simply visit the Travel Professionals page on our website to contact us. We also just relaunched our training academy,” he added.
As for Detroit, Jennifer Ollinger, Visit Detroit’s Manager, Domestic & International Tourism, tells Travelweek that if you haven’t been, or it has been a long time since your last visit, now is the time to come check out the city.
“We’ve had billions of dollars of infrastructure upgrades and three new hotels last year with two more in construction. We have the densest sports district anywhere in the United States with four professional teams playing within five blocks in three new venues. The culinary and cocktail scene is on fire, and there’s so much to see and do just a quick four-hour drive from Toronto. It’s a fun weekend getaway,” said Ollinger.
Born and raised in the Motor City, Ollinger had some local-insider faves to recommend: “The Belt is a repurposed alleyway that is an art installation with a couple different bars. Our rooftop patio scene is great, with Kamper’s being the newest one. And over Labour Day weekend, the city will hold the largest free jazz festival in the country.”
To learn more about both destinations, go to VisitCentralFlorida.org and VisitDetroit.com.
