In addition to the usual construction photos, I asked BCB's David Sameshima to take some photos at the Cubs Store, where they have set up ticket booths that will serve people coming in off the street to buy tickets beginning tomorrow, Monday, March 9, at 9 a.m. The ticket hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cubs Store every day until Opening Night (except next Saturday, March 14).
Here's David's extensive report on Saturday's activity at the ballpark.
I arrived at 3:30 p.m. It was 44 degrees (+37 wind chill). A concrete truck pulled up on Clark Street just as I arrived. There was activity going on around the ballpark, but it was with a small staff. It was nothing like a full-scale operation, not exactly what one would expect to see on such a mild day, when earlier this week there was an attempt to request a 24/7 work permit, or at least to get some extended hours. You can see in my photos that work was taking place, but only in certain outdoor areas. Of course there might have been full work crews working inside the ballpark who are not visible to the public.More steel was going up in left field. I didn't see any activity in right field. It was surprisingly reassuring to know that some things don't change. There is a spot along the Addison Street exterior where water will stream down along the wall and hit the sidewalk after storms. Today the melting snow was coming straight down in that location.I knew that the Cubs were going to start selling game tickets at their Cubs Store next week. I had gone over to the store Friday to check it out, when it still being set up. I went back to take photos of the completed setup. I was surprised to see a large banner on the fence under the marquee to advertise this service. Nice to know that they are trying to promote it. I was also surprised to encounter a pub crawl today. It wasn't huge and crazy. It did bring out a crowd along Clark Street, which I wasn't expecting to see. Many participants were wearing green t-shirts with an "#unofficialchi95" logo. Many others were simply wearing green T-shirts. The Clark Street sidewalks were never crowded, but at times traffic on Clark Street was backing up. Most of the time traffic was moving just fine.
Observation: if a pub crawl backs up traffic on Clark this much, what's going to happen when ballgame traffic begins?