Shrine puts game back in Windsor
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STAFF REPORT - Published: October 20, 2009
WINDSOR — The Board of Governors of the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, at its October meeting, voted to hold the 2010 football game at Windsor High School. It will be the second year in a row that Windsor will be the site for the event and the third time that the game has been played in Vermont.
The 57th annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl will be played Aug. 7. It features recent high school graduates in Vermont against their counterparts from New Hampshire.
The head coaches for the summer classic will be announced in December and the players in early February.
There were several other towns and schools that extended bids for the 2010 game and the Board of Governors indicated that the cost of putting on the game, while a factor, was not the deciding one.
"The bids submitted by the other locations were all very close to Windsor's" Board President David Lovell. said "What it came down to was location, community support and proven game attendance. Windsor had all three going for it."
Attendance at the 2009 game at Windsor High School was the best seen by the Shrine in five years. The crowd for the pregame parade was estimated to be the largest in over a decade. Donations from the Windsor business community and from the sale of souvenirs was well up over past years. "Altogether, Windsor has earned the right to host the 2010 game and we look forward to going back, Lovell said."
Windsor High School has a limited number of seats for football, but that will again be supplemented by portable bleachers rented from Dartmouth College. "We are very grateful for Dartmouth's continued support. Our 50-year association with the College means a great deal," Lovell said.
Dartmouth College's Memorial Field had been the game site for most of the 56 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowls.
Shrine Bowl media relations official Dave Orr said that Windsor is only guaranteed the site for 2010 and the Shriners will be going "year-to-year" beyond that.
Asked whether or not Dartmouth was still in the picture as a possible future game site, Orr said he was unable to comment on that.
The board also announced that the two Shrine teams will train at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., the third year that Shrine all stars have used KUA as a training site.
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