Baseball is Back in Cedar Rapids

Don't you like the sound of that?

According to Iowa's News Now, it's been 603 days since the Cedar Rapids Kernels took the field at Veteran's Memorial Stadium, thanks to the pandemic. You wonder who missed it more: the players or the fans.

With tonight being the first game back since COVID-19 canceled the entire 2020 season, there continue to be more people getting vaccinated, but the pandemic is still here. That means there are guidelines to follow and changes to be aware of.

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Please wear a mask

Fans in attendance in the stands, at the ticket counter, or the Bimm Ridder team store should wear face-coverings while in all areas of the stadium where not actively eating or drinking.

It's going to be clean. REALLY clean.

The maintenance staff is taking extra precautions to clean everything in the stadium frequently, as all seats will have been washed and disinfected before this and every game this season. Any surface where sales transactions take place will be wiped down and disinfected between every visitor/customer.

Hand sanitizer stations will be installed in the following areas:

• Outside all bathrooms
• At each concession stand
• Outside the Bimm Ridder Diamond Shop
• Inside the Bimm Ridder Diamond Shop
• Outside the Play Station Kids Zone area

It won't be quite as crowded as in the picture--at least not for a while

Seats will be separated to promote social distancing, which means full capacity will not be sold.

Exciting things are happening at the ballpark

Now that the newly necessary "legalese" is out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff. The Kernels were recently re-upped as a partner with the Minnesota Twins organization and even got a promotion to what's called the "High A" affiliate. The schedule starts tonight and can be found in full here.

The crack of the bat, the smell of fresh hot dogs, popcorn, and the taste of cold beer or soda. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the first pitch is at 6:30. Who isn't ready?