Packer Fan Tours In the News
Packers fans forevermore in Ravens land
by Sean Schultz, Green Bay Press GazetteEd note: These were our tour customers!
Laura Thomason, Angela Thomason, Marti Brown, Lou Ann Beecher,
Beth Propst, Katie Lewis and Lynne Mallary
They might live in Baltimore Ravens territory, but one group of avid Green Bay Packer fans doesn’t get crabby no matter how their favorite team is doing. The Baltimore area residents do, however, have some winning Maryland crab recipes to share with other Packer loyalists.
Lou Ann Beecher is the ringleader of this all-female crew. She is chief cook and bottle washer at what she swears is the only Packers bar in Maryland, The Bull’s-eye in Baltimore. And every Sunday is reason for a Packers celebration there, with Lou manning the grill.
“It’s all-you-can eat brats, hot German potato salad and cole slaw,” she said. “If the game’s on national TV, we get 30 to 60 Green Bay fans.”
And at least once a year the group makes a pilgrimage to Lambeau Field to spend quality time with others who share their devotion to the green and gold. Beecher has made the trip for each of the past 10 years. This year, she brought six pals along for the Nov. 6 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The women like Beecher’s traveling rules: No one younger than 21 allowed and no one of the opposite gender.
“It’s all girls,” said Laura Thomason. “Yeah!”
Beecher became a Packers fan while living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for 5½ years while her husband was in the military.
“That’s when I came to my first Packers game,” she said. “That’s when they stunk up the joint.”
She moved to Maryland in 1991 but tutored her daughter, Beth Propst, in what it takes to be true to your team. “I raised her right,” she said. “My son, unfortunately, is a Redskins fan.”
Her tour group loves to take a walking trip through Packersland while in Green Bay.
“We do the Hall of Fame, the stadium tour, the Pro Shop.”
And of course, there are stops at a few Packer bars in the vicinity. Shopping is essential, too – they all buy the latest green-and-gold gear.
“It’s so nice here,” tour member Angie Thomason said. “There’s so much support. They don’t act thuggy like they do in a lot of big cities.”
Katie Lewis said Steelers fans told her at the game that they want to come next year, too. “They had such a good time.”
Beecher suggests that even fans of other teams appreciate Lambeau Field’s unique public ownership and its devoted fans. “There’s no fear of (the team) getting yanked,” she said. “I own a piece of the Packers.”
She received a share of Packers team stock as a Christmas gift from her husband.
“There wasn’t much else Packer that I didn’t already have,” she said.
Her basement is brimming with team accessories including a life-size cardboard Brett Favre. But the ardent fan even made the ultimate souvenir purchase: a duplex on Frank Street, in the shadow of Lambeau Field. Next time she comes to town, the tour heads there.
Photo Credit: Corey Wilson/Press-Gazette