OAKLAND — The Oakland A’s stopped hosting their annual fan fest after the 2019 season, but the fans haven’t stopped showing up.
Not when there’s something worth celebrating, that is.
Thousands of Oakland sports fans showed up to Jack London Square on Saturday for Fans Fest, a fan-run event that encouraged fans of the A’s as well as other Oakland teams like the Roots, Soul and Ballers to come together and celebrate the local community.
“There’s an element of protest, just making sure the voices are continuing to be heard,” said Trevor May, a reliever for the A’s last year who was one of six former A’s players to show up Saturday. “But this is a celebration of fans, that’s what Fans Fest is. A celebration of everyone. Everyone here likes the same things, likes to be with each other, likes to hang out and go to games.
“We’re letting them know we (the players) liked being with them, too. We’re all in this together. We know we would all prefer a different situation and it’s none of our decisions. At least there’s support here.”
The event was billed as a celebration of sports teams, not an anti-A’s fest, but it turned out to be a little bit of both.
It felt like a block party, with music playing and beer flowing starting at 11 a.m., as fans entered through various security checkpoints and then made their way to some of the 60 vendors throughout the square.
There were artists selling bobbleheads and pictures of special moments in A’s history, memorabilia collectors selling autographs and baseballs, autograph tents where former players met with fans, live music, a stage for special guests and all the food and beer one could ask for on a warm Saturday afternoon.
Watching it all unfold, event organizer Bryan Johansen, one of the founders of the Last Dive Bar fan group, couldn’t stop smiling.
“I just got back; I had to go pick up the players, I did a beer run, and this looks amazing and beautiful,” he said. “I’m going to love looking back at all the pictures. I just hope everybody has an amazing time.”
Along with May, fellow former A’s Coco Crisp, Grant Balfour, Ben Grieve, Billy North and Mike Norris spent time with the fans.
“It just feels like a bash for the fans of this city, and we’re showing love for them,” Crisp said.
The A’s lease at the Coliseum expires after this season, meaning it could be the team’s last after 57 years in Oakland. Conversations are ongoing between the team and the city in an attempt to extend the lease, but Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said Saturday that she’s still demanding that the A’s name and logo stay in Oakland, and that MLB guarantees the city an expansion team after the A’s leave for Las Vegas.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has said he’s not in position to guarantee expansion. Thao, who showed up to Fans Fest wearing a hat supporting the new independent-league Oakland Ballers, sat down for an interview with baseball show Foul Territory and said she is not budging.
“There comes a time when you have to cut the cancer, that’s my position,” Thao said about getting rid of A’s owner John Fisher. “Keep the A’s branding and name and we get an expansion team.”
Thao said she hasn’t spoken with Fisher in a long time.
“Good luck in Las Vegas,” she said. “I know John Fisher is going to do John Fisher things.”
Thao said Saturday’s event was “way better than anything John Fisher could do. The energy is amazing. There’s nothing like Oakland fans.”
Those fans plastered Fisher’s face on the outside of portable toilets at the event, aptly named “The Johns”.
There was some extra controversy before the event, when Drake’s Brewing Company, an original sponsor that also serves at the Coliseum, pulled out at the last minute. Drake’s hasn’t commented about why they pulled out, and the A’s have told media outlets they did not contact Drake’s about their involvement, but event organizers remained suspicious.
“Hours before the event they pulled out with no explanation given, just unforeseen circumstances,” Johansen said. “We know Aramark (a food vendor that works with multiple MLB teams) is who they report to. The A’s can say they didn’t contact Drake’s, but did they contact Aramark? It’s just unfortunate.”
Several East Bay breweries, including Fieldwork and Altamont stepped in to fill out the lineup alongside Dokkaebier, 21st Amendment and others.
Thao was one of many who voiced her support for Schools Over Stadiums, a political action group made up of Nevada teachers trying to stop the $380 million in state public funding from going towards a new ballpark in Las Vegas.
The lines were long at the Schools Over Stadiums tent on Saturday, where spokesperson Alex Marks was informing A’s fans how they could help support the cause.
“We’re just here to say thank you to these fans who have been so supportive,” Marks said while standing in front of a sign that read, “STOP THE VEGAS SCAM.”
At one point during the event, a “Let’s go Oakland” chant broke out as if it was the middle of an A’s game.
“I wanted to see how big Fans Fest was going to be,” said Nick Freieri, a longtime A’s fan from Los Gatos. “As a fan, what can we do as a community to show our voices here? We’re here to let them know the fans aren’t the problem. It’s the ownership.”
The former A’s players were sympathetic to the fans’ cause.
“The love of the fans, the support I had when I was here, the way they embraced me, I felt this was the time to come up here and enjoy this moment and be around the fans,” said Balfour, the closer during his years in Oakland from 2011-13. “There’s so much history, I’ll be sad to see them go. I’d rather see Vegas get a new team and start fresh.”
