Why would the West Michigan Whitecaps change their name and logo, even for one night?
For one, Minor League Baseball has presented an initiative to allow teams to change their identities several times throughout the season. The Whitecaps have changed to Las Calaveras de West Michigan to celebrate Hispanic Heritage. They’ve changed to the Beer City Bung Hammers to celebrate Grand Rapids’ deep beer pedigree (also, a bung hammer is the specialized tool to seal and unseal the bung on the side of a barrel when aging craft beer).
The first Heritage Village Festival was in 1987 and consisted of only the Shoen log cabin and the Gaffield School.
Now, the Montcalm Heritage Village, located on the Montcalm Community College’s campus, celebrated its 36th anniversary with steady crowds throughout the three-day celebration.
In an effort to involve creative Belding innovators in a fun way, the Belding Area Community Fund (BACF) is hosting a logo making contest for residents to get crafty.
Just gaining licensing for an official board this year, the BACF is still in process of getting the ball rolling with future promotions. With their specialty lying in community fundraising, members thought this would be a great opportunity to get residents creatively involved, while accomplishing their mission for the future.
Johnny Walker began playing baseball at the age of 4. His uncle, Ted Raspberry, owned the local baseball team and taught his nephew how to play the game.
“I grew up playing baseball with him,” Walker said. “He was my mentor.”
