The Sons of Ben took place in a celebration that started before dawn and continued well past the ceremonial turning of the first shovels of dirt.  The day started with a breakfast tailgate with members cooking up eggs, sausage, and pancakes.  Chester’s own Phatso’s Bakery supplied donuts, sticky buns, and a Sons of Ben sheet cake.  Fox29 taped scenes from the event and did a live interview.

During the day, we gratefully accepted donations for our Help Kick Hunger drive.  We are still tabulating the incredible results from this year’s efforts and will be sharing them as soon as possible.  Many members and interested locals stopped by.  The owners of B & S  (located right near the stadium) stopped by with 30 hoagies for us – and they were amazing.  Looks like we have found a perfect spot for sandwiches for our future tailgates.  Reporters from Channel 6 and 10 also stopped by and did video and interviews.  We are constantly humbled by the amount of media coverage that includes us.  It helps us spread the word of the passion that this sport creates and boosts the owners’ efforts to make this franchise develop an instant foothold in this market.

When the time came to march in, we were once again joined by members of the fabulous Polish American String Band.  We entered with our anthem Four Leaf Clover and also provided the music for the moment when the shovels hit the dirt.  Seeing a tent full of media, Chester residents, and soccer fans encourages us to look forward to Z0l0 with an expectation of a packed stadium filled with ardent supporters.

Our members continued the party with our long time friends at The Dark Horse in Philadelphia where the sheet cake was ceremonial cut with one of the shovels from Groundbreaking.  The celebration was a fitting end to another monumental day in the history of the Sons of Ben and Philadelphia 2010.