Today Willow and I went to the Ottawa Senators #FanFest event. It was held at Canadian Tire Centre from 9am to 5pm and featured so many fun activities for Sens fans to enjoy. I have a lot to share about the day today but if you’re interested in the giveaway for pre-season tickets, scroll down past the photos!
We headed over to the CTC around 11am with Willow donning her jersey and her Puppy in tow (he goes everywhere with us lately).
The event was held half outdoors and half indoors. The outdoor area had many, many activities for children including a bouncy castle, bouncy slides, sumo wrestling station, road hockey area, face painting and more. Outside also housed the press conference tent and a few areas for major vendors and media outlets. On hand was also a Create-a-Coke booth where you could, on the spot, create a custom can of Coke. The entire thing was well done, there were tons of photo opportunities for Sens fans and Willow was not bored (a major plus for an almost four-year old!)
Inside, there were many things you could do. On the ice there was a mix of intrasquad games, practices and those were shared between the Ottawa Senators and the Binghamton Senators. You could grab a snack at the concessions and head down into your seat of choice to watch the players in action, up close and personal. Willow really enjoyed this part as it’s hard to get right down to ice level for a game unless you have those seats. The other thing that I loved about the indoor part of Fan Fest was that the entire building felt open. It wasn’t but you really could explore the arena and all levels, which most people don’t do during a game.
You could also get bracelets for photo opps and autograph sessions with the players. We didn’t end up getting a bracelet because on the way into Fan Fest they were handing out Scratch & Win tickets and Willow won a Meet & Greet with a player that afternoon! She was pretty excited about that. I won a discount card for the Sens store so I bought Willow and I each a t-shirt, which I promptly changed into (I was feeling slightly out of place without Sens gear on!)
Our tickets were among the first 10,000 tickets sold so we also were able to grab a Kyle Turris bobblehead, which Willow decided should accompany her to lunch. Except that she mostly enjoyed playing “take the stick from Kyle” and tried to get him to drink her apple juice. He didn’t seem all that thirsty though. 😉 She also got quite angry when he refused to give her his stick at one point. Sorry Kyle but you most definitely got the evil look from her in that moment.
Speaking of lunch, we ate at Chek Point (one of the sports bars at the arena) and it was SO DELICIOUS! I hadn’t eaten there before, only had a beverage, but it was very, very good. If you have the chance to go, get their chicken tacos. They were sublime. Willow had the kids chicken fingers and fries and quite enjoyed that as well.
After lunch, we wandered back upstairs to take a few shots in the main entrance with the cardboard cut outs of hockey players before lining up for our Meet & Greet.
The Meet & Greets were really well run. They flowed nicely and everyone that won had a line assigned to them on their ticket. You got in your line, waited your turn and then were able to get an autograph per person as well as a photograph. It was a really nice touch to Fan Fest and definitely made everyone excited. I could hear people in the line-ups excitedly asking who was in their line and the anticipation was high.
I got Willow’s jersey autographed by #46, Patrick Wiercioch, and snapped a quick photo with him. Then, we headed home… but not without doing a singing and dancing session in the walkway. The echo is real in there.
If you get the chance to go to a Fan Fest event, I’d highly encourage it. It’s a great opportunity to meet the players and get energized for the season ahead. I had a really good time, as did Willow, and I can’t wait to attend another fan-focused event. Don’t forget to also check out the upcoming schedule, grab tickets and more on their website right here. And, don’t forget to scroll down and enter the giveaway for Sens tickets for the October 3rd game!
xo