| After visiting Watt Powell Park in 2001, I commented that Charleston was
one city that I wouldn't mind seeing replace their old park. In 2005, that
finally happened with the opening of a new downtown ballpark, Appalachian
Power Park. It is located west of the capital among some abandoned
warehouses (which may eventually turn into loft apartments or other
businesses) and right next door to the city hospital. Despite being in the
downtown, it doesn't really fit in too well due to a very low structural
profile. The one part of the exterior that does stand out is the old
warehouse that was restored and houses the ticket office, clubhouses, and
batting cages (which have windows to the street). The interior of the park
follows the familiar new park template - a large wraparound concourse
circles the park and allows for unobstructed views from every angle. The
concourse is very wide and spacious (maybe too much so !), but
unfortunately has no covering as of yet. Supposedly an awning will be
erected to provide some covering over the 3rd base concourse area, but as
of June '05 only the supports were there. The luxury boxes, instead of
being stacked on top of the concourse, were built on top of the 1st base
building which houses some concession stands and bathrooms. Because of
their location, they sit back from the field quite a bit and are less
obtrusive than in other new parks. The seating here is all close to the
field as the grandstand is no more than 15 rows high. Fold down box seats
comprise the majority of the seating, while small bleacher sections are
located down each line and behind the outfield fence in right field. Also,
to show they haven't forgotten about Watt Powell Park, they brought over
two rows of seats from the old park and installed them behind the
left-center field fence, directly under the scoreboard. Picnic areas are
located in the left field corner and in center field. In addition, a few
picnic tables are setup along the back of the seating areas which anyone is
allowed to use. For a new park, the selection of concession items seemed a
bit sparse. There were a few tasty grill items like burgers, sausages, and
philly cheese sandwiches, but no regional offerings can be found. The
quality of food seemed good and the prices reasonable. Overall, I liked
the park quite a bit, but I did have one complaint. As with many new parks
in their first year, the PA system was cranked way too loud. You could
hardly hear yourself talk when the music was blaring. Fortunately, the
music and sound effects were kept to a minimum during the innings. The
team has 5 mascots (!), but only two were on hand the night I attended.
Only a few between inning games were performed and surprisingly none of
them were race the mascot, dizzy, or sumo wrestling. Instead they did an
obstacle course race, a closest to the pin contest, and a HR hitting
contest. Despite the loud music, the atmosphere is actually pretty laid
back. Appalachian Power Park doesn't break any new ground, but does have
some unique features and is a vast improvement over Watt Powell Park.
Hopefully the team will get some covering installed and will turn down the
music, both of which will make this an even better place to take in a game.
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