Wisconsin Rapids Rafters management to play a new game

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The Rafters are planning several community outreach initiatives and improvements for the upcoming season. Joe Fonti, who co-owns the team with brother Vince Fonti, said team management spent the offseason brainstorming and seeking comments from players, fans and business owners alike to provide an experience the whole community can enjoy.
“Recently, we had a fan feedback asking them about, okay, how do we deliver on where a community comes together? How do we improve the experience for people? So we looked at all those kind of things,” Fonti said.
One change that Fonti is particularly excited about is pre-game activities inspired by the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas play a variation of baseball known as Banana Ball, which emphasizes showmanship, fan participation and quick-paced games.
“What we’ll do, as an example, if we have a juggler or a marching band from one of the high schools or a pom pom squad, different things that we’re trying to do to have excitement before the game,” Fonti said. “We can’t be the same as them during the baseball game, but we certainly can try to do some of the things they do before the game.”
The Rafters will also be making changes to their food options, outsourcing for what Fonti says will be higher quality and lower prices.

“For example, a quarter pound hamburger we had sold for $11 last year. That’s going to be at $8 and it’s going to be a third pound hamburger [this season],” Fonti said.
They are creating kids’ meal packages around $5, with a main item like a hamburger plus fries. Fonti said another piece of feedback he received was that going to get food during the game was an obstacle in and of itself. So that experience will also undergo a transformation.
“One of the other things we’re going to be doing this year is, let’s say you want to order food from our grandstand, instead of having to wait in line in their concessions, we would have a central spot in the grandstand where a person sitting in their seats could order the food, and we would have it brought to this spot for them to pick it up,” he said.
Another of the initiatives Fonti wants to add to the Rafters’ season is support for Alex’s Lemonade Stand, an American pediatric cancer charity founded by Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who suffered from neuroblastoma.
“We’re going to have an Alex’s Lemonade Stand event on June 30 this year,” Fonti said. “I’d love for us to try to gather kids in the community that would have lemonade stands with the proceeds going to Alex’s Lemonade.”
Fonti hopes to engage the children of the community even further with the Lil’ Rafters Reading Program, which is described as “major league literacy framework connecting readers, schools and families across Central Wisconsin.” Fonti said the book drive is framed as part of their broader effort to live up to the team’s model of “where our community comes together.” This year, the goal is for students to read at least 15 minutes per day, but the program can be updated to fit each classroom’s goals. Every student who reaches second base (15 days) of the program will receive one free admission to the Food + Farm Exploration Center. Students who get a home run (30 days) will earn two free tickets to a Rafters game. The program runs from April 1 through May 1.
Fonti said the team has also made several changes to its roster, and plans to provide training opportunities for their staff and the community.
“Our head coach has put together a solid roster of players throughout the country. We also will have nine youth baseball camps this summer, plus two coaches clinics.”
The Rafters have recruited a new coaching intern, who Fonti said would be the first woman coach in Northwoods league history.
“Her name is Dana, and she graduated from Lincoln High School. She’s now at the University of Michigan in sports management and analytics, and she’s looking to make a career in the sports industry,” Fonti said.
Host families are needed every season as players and interns come from across the country, and even internationally, to play for the Rafters. According to Fonti, the team is usually able to recruit enough host families — however, it isn’t easy.
“I had a call with our host family coordinator today, and about 14 people were looking to still place for this upcoming year.” Fonti said.
Host families face some inevitable challenges when taking someone in, but Fonti said he hears from families who created lifelong bonds.
“I’ve talked to some of our host families where, for instance, they end up going to weddings for these players, that when the player gets married, they’re invited to go to that and you know, they’ve got connection beyond the season.”
Fonti hopes that with more community outreach and improvements to the fan experience, the Rafters will draw more fans and inspire more families to host — with host families receiving free tickets to every game and food vouchers.
The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters will play their first game of the season on May 25 vs. the Green Bay Rockers at 6:05 p.m. at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids.