Annual Whiteout storms into Conneaut

CONNEAUT – The annual Whiteout game and festival have become a tradition for the kids of the Conneaut Area City Schools.
Hosted prior to a home football game during the second week of September, the annual whiteout, sponsored by Chris Brecht State Farm Insurance, has become nearly as important as Homecoming.
“It’s nice to see that it’s become a mainstay and that everybody enjoys it,” Chris Brecht, owner of Chris Brecht State Farm Insurance, said. “I don’t really see it ending anytime soon.”
The 17th Annual Whiteout Game and Festival were held at SPARC before the Spartans’ contest with Berkshire on Friday, Sept. 11.
“It’s funny,” Brecht said. “I was talking to somebody earlier. Half of the football team was out here at the beginning of the carnival. As I said, these kids, 17 years, this is all they’ve known. They were the kids, the youth players that are out here now that are playing. We had high school kids that were here from 4:30 to 5:30 when they had to report (for the game) and they were playing games and they were checking it out and talking to people. That’s just become a thing. They come every year now and they enjoy it before they go play the game. It’s great.”
With sunshine and warm temperatures, the festival drew a large crowd.
“It’s been a great time,” Brecht said. “We had great weather and a huge turnout, so it’s been phenomenal. I feel like there’s even more people here this year than last year. I really think this is one of the largest crowds we’ve ever had.”
The tradition of the festival as well as its longevity continue to draw the city’s youth to the event.
“I think it’s become something that everybody knows,” Brecht said. “We’re at 17 years, so people kind of look forward to it, then you have so much going on tonight with the mini cheer. That brings in a large crowd. The fact that (the football team is) 3-0 brings in a large crowd. Then, we have great weather. I think it all just lends itself to having a really good event.”
Visitors to the festival were able to play games for prizes and get their faces painted.
“We only put out about 30 to 35 games,” Brecht said. “Some of the games have like three or four spots at it. We’re limited by the volunteers that we have, and the volunteers are great, but if I put out 100 games, we’d probably play them all. We’ve gone through well over 5,000 prizes. It’s crazy.”
The CACS cheerleaders play an important role in the festival.
“We couldn’t do this without the help of the middle school and the high school cheerleaders,” Brecht said. “They are 95 percent of my volunteers. They run all the games. They’ve been doing it for years now and without them, we’d have half as many games because we just wouldn’t have the manpower.”
Brecht was grateful for the support of the business community at the festival.
“We’ve had a lot of great volunteers and a lot of great businesses that have been involved,” Brecht said. “We had more than two dozen different businesses this year that got shirts for their employees to make sure that they were supporting it throughout the week and all day today. GreatWave was here today. Dr. Doolittle’s was here today. The Conneaut Public Library was here today. University Hospitals Conneaut Medical Center was here today. Ashtabula Regional Medical Center gave more than 500 bags that all the kids got to put prizes in. Holhart came out and they set up games. It’s always nice to see all the different businesses and organizations that get involved and just really make it the event that it is.”