St. Marys – An hour before, perhaps an hour after, this coming Saturday's “boom” heard and felt all around the community from the St. Marys Cement Company weekly blast, don't be surprised to see and hear the Canadian Air Force Snowbirds or some CF-18 fighter aircraft doing a fly-by to salute the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame's Induction Ceremony of Sparky Anderson, Sherry Robertson and John Haar.  The skyward tribute is still being negotiated at the time of this release, but with the air show planned for nearby St. Thomas, it is a natural addition to a star-studded weekend.

Regardless of the outcome of the fly-by ask, there are other jets and jet-setters of note coming our direction.

Sparky Anderson is flying from his home in Thousand Oaks, California to Detroit on Thursday evening, staying in Detroit with his dear friend and presenter for the ceremony, Dan Ewald, and they will drive up to St. Marys mid-day on Friday to join the Hall's 11th Annual Celebrity Golf Classic and stay over for Saturday's ceremony.

Jeff Mallett, a baseball-passionate Canadian who is one of the majority shareholders of the San Francisco Giants, is choosing to miss a rare Interleague home series versus the New York Yankees to have his private jet fly up to Vancouver to pick up inductee John Haar, his wife Carol, his daughters Rebecca and Allison, his sister Louise, and his presenter Lenny Gamlin, hang a right, and personally escort them to St. Marys for the big day.  The founder of Yahoo.com's plane is currently scheduled to land in London on Thursday evening.

The Roberston family, starting with posthumous inductee Sherry Robertson's wife Betty, and including their daughters Joanie and Sherry Ann, son-in-law Ned Dayton, great-grandson Franz Jevne, and nephew and presenter Clark Griffith, will be arriving in two groups, one Thursday and one Friday on the Dayton family private jet.

Saturday Night Live’s star impersonator comedian Darrell Hammond is flying in from New York City on Saturday morning, not only to emcee the induction ceremony, but also to perform stand-up comedy in a new event Saturday night, also to be held under the tent on the Ceremonial Grounds adjacent to the museum at 386 Church St. S.  Hammond, encouraged to assist the Hall by SNL creator/producer Lorne Michaels, will perform his show/set at 7:30pm Saturday night, and the doors open at 6:45pm for the barbecue and licensed event.  He will be followed by Canada's number one party band, Tara Tuma, featuring St. Marys own Rob Edney as lead singer.

Also confirmed are Fergie Jenkins, the greatest Canadian to dawn a baseball uniform, Hall-of-Famers Jim Fanning, Paul Beeston, Don McDougall, and Ron Piche, as well as Miss Canada (Rachel Jaillet), and the ten finalists for Miss Canada! There is still hope that baseball legend Johnny Bench, Joe Thornton, and one or more of the currently injured Toronto Blue Jays players (BJ Ryan, AJ Burnett, Lyle Overbay, Reed Johnson and/or Gustavo Chacin), will join in the festivities.

Please come out and support the 11:00am ceremony on Saturday as well as the Darrell Hammond / Tara Tuma performance on Saturday evening - the turnout will largely impact the future of such high profile events.  Admission is free for the Induction Ceremony, and tickets for the Hammond / Tara Tuma show are $15 in advance, $25 at the door, and can be purchased at the Hall's administration office (140 Queen St. E.), or its museum (386 Church St. S.), or the World's Coolest Music Store, or M&M Variety.

Five-year old wins breakfast with Sparky Anderson!

The name on the grand prize winning ticket of the St. Marys Minor Ball raffle was Holly Graham, the five-year old daughter of Lesley and Bim Graham of Jones St.!  Holly, with mom & dad in tow, will be joining 2007 Hall Inductee Sparky Anderson for a private breakfast on Saturday morning.  The ticket was sold by neighbour Jordan Keeler.

Splash ’N Boots Live on Sunday

Splash ’N Boots, recently voted Canadian children's entertainers of the year, will perform under the tent the Hall’s Ceremonial Grounds on Sunday, June 24th at 4:00pm.  Doors open at 3:30pm - perfect event for the whole family.  Tickets are $5, children under 2 free. 

ST MARYS – 19 June 2007

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