At Backyard Farms, winter is a time to shine by providing the taste of summer tomatoes on even the coldest, snowiest days. When they heard the Maine Mariners were bringing professional hockey back to Portland for the first time since 2016, they saw an opportunity to team up with one of their restaurant customers on a fun in-game promotion while raising thousands of dollars for the Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine.
If you've ever been to a hockey game at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, you may have seen a contest called Chuck A Puck. If you haven't, it looks a little something like this:
This game was very popular in the past and the team at Backyard Farms hopes it will be again with a few twists. In Toss A Tomato, Win Some Dough the Maine Mariners' game day crew will be selling tomato-shaped rubber balls at the guest services table in Section K of the Cross Insurance Arena.
$5 gets you six individually numbered balls. When you buy them, the attendee will hand you six slips of paper with the numbers that match the numbers on the balls you purchased. When the horn sounds at the end of the second period and the players clear the ice, the bullgang will bring out the target below.
Once the target is in position at center ice, the announcer will let all the fans know that it's time to get ready to toss! This is important for fans sitting in any part of the arena where the protective netting could block the tomato ball. If you're in one of those sections, you'll want to make your way to an area with a clear flight path to the ice. When the horn sounds, you'll have thirty seconds to toss all of your tomatoes at the target. When the horn sounds again, the judges will determine which tomato came the closest to the bullseye and call out the number on the winning tomato ball.
Read more about the promotion at the Backyard Farms website.