With multiple new promotions and a new sports bar, the upcoming race meet at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort is shaping up to be an exciting one, according to Director of Marketing Charity Myers.
Oaklawn President Louis Cella and General Manager Wayne Smith challenged the marketing team to create new promotions in advance of the Dec. 9 start of the season, Myers said.
"Having racing opening earlier, we wanted to make sure that we had something going on pretty much every weekend, but we have some pretty cool new promotions that we're doing," she said.
The standard Corned Beef Day will return on Dec. 10 as the first big promotion for the season with two sandwiches and a soft drink for $1, but one of the first new promotions will be a Mardi Crawl, Myers said.
"We've never done that here before, and it's kind of an ode to Mardi Gras," she said. "It's a festive season; we wanted to kind of pair that with racing. So we've got some promotions and drawings for that."
The promotion will feature multiple sets of beads that can be obtained from different locations throughout Oaklawn.
"If you've ever been to a pub crawl, it's kind of similar to that, but we are incorporating different bead styles. So you could go to Tacos and Tequila, which is one of our concession stands next to the paddock, and if you order something from a margarita or some tacos, then you get a taco bead. If you go to you know the beer garden or Mainline and you order a beer, then you'll get a bead that has a beer on it," she said.
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After visiting each of the locations to get beads, participants will be able to win one of two trips to New Orleans.
"By the end of the day, once you've collected all of your beads -- you have a card where you check off we're all where are the places you've been -- then you go to the information booth and you get the final bead, which is a pretty cool medallion that says 'I completed the Mardi Crawl' with a year on it," Myers said.
"Kind of like Mardi Gras, you'll have all these cool beads that you can collect, but we are also giving away a trip to New Orleans. So we've got that going on, and then we also have cash giveaways and voucher giveaways during the races, as well."
Other promotions will be centered around Cinco de Mayo, which will include a pair of trips to Cozumel, Mexico, a return of Fan Appreciation Day and Pink Out, and a new college-focused weekend. Oaklawn is also looking to expand the Hall of Fame Day.
"Last year, we brought in Hall of Fame trainers and jockeys," Director of Racing Jennifer Hoyt said. "I think we had 14 of them here, and we're looking to grow that event. This year we're moving it from April to March. It'll be Saturday, March 18, Hall of Fame Day, and everybody that was here last year is already super excited about it. And more people that missed it last year are like, 'Oh, I have to be there this year.' So that's really what we're looking forward to."
Mainline Sports Bar and Sportsbook opens Thursday and will feature three Topgolf swing suites, two ax throwing lanes and more.
"What we're offering is an open seven days a week sports bar that's on the racing side," Chris Ho, new vice president of marketing, said. "It's called Mainline Sports Bar. It's new state-of-the-art technology. We have two ax-throwing lanes; we have shuffleboard. We have three Topgolf swing suites. You'll be able to reserve that ax throwing and the swing suites an hour at a time. Open seating; there'll be mutuel lines for betting on races and also sports wagering."
With over 70 televisions and more to be installed, the facility should be popular, especially after the races, Hoyt said.
"I think it's going to be really packed before the races and after the races because it'll kind of give people a place to go," she said. "And it's family-friendly because you don't have to be 21 to enjoy it. That's another factor in it."
Ho said the new bar should hold about 100 people and will also feature 11 flavors of chicken wings, which will fill the hole left by the departure of Buffalo Wild Wings. It will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Myers encouraged fans to follow Oaklawn on all their social media pages for promotions as well as race information.
"We strongly encourage all of our fans to follow our social media channels, just because we have a lot of information," she said. "If for some reason we have to cancel a race, if doors you know change times or whatever. We always post that information on our social media channels, so that the information is readily available."
One of the three Topgolf swing suites at Mainline Sports Bar and Sportsbook is shown Tuesday at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort. - Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record
The new Mainline Sports Bar and Sportsbook will be able to hold 100 people and features over 70 televisions in addition to shuffleboard, two ax-throwing lanes and three Topgolf swing suites. - Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record