Anyone living in Columbus this summer has heard about the new Huntington Park. The place, quite simply, is very well done. First of all, it's not a fortress that's disconnected from the surrounding neighborhood—a retrospectively-obvious mistake with the City Center. Next, being right downtown, and in the hip Arena District, it's easy to get to for anyone. Several COTA bus lines run right by it, and it's easily walkable from almost anywhere downtown. Of course, there is parking for those coming in from more far-flung areas by car. Finally, the park simply makes very good use of space, being both large enough to house the game properly, and intimate enough to feel connected to the play, a major benefit of minor league baseball.

My Club gets seats for the game, so that's where I went to secure my seats for the July 7 game against the Indianapolis Indians. A colleague and I headed over to the game, sadly arriving just as the bottom of the first inning got underway. We found a bus stop right by our office, where we waited for all of about three minutes for bus 18 to come, where it took us directly to Huntington Park. When we got settled into our seats, we saw that it might not be a good night for the home team: down five runs already.

At the end, Columbus had only six runs, while Indianapolis had thirteen. Ouch.

Our seats were excellent, just behind home plate, where we had a good view of play, and were spared the discomfort of baking in the sun. Aside from the newer seats, there is a full(ish) bar up on the second level just behind where we were sitting. These are nice additions over the amenities offered by The Coop. Sadly, beer selections are still quite limited. Plenty of options for food are available, none even remotely healthy. A good time was had by all.

In all, I am very happy with the venue and hope to see many, many games there over a long time to come.