Horizon Transport Celebrates its Drivers at Four Winds Field – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
The drivers who attended Horizon Transport’s annual Driver’s Appreciation Day received major league star treatment May 7 at Four Winds Field — home of the South Bend Cubs.
President/Owner Rob Jackson said they started planning the event in January-February and since the 40th Driver’s Appreciation Day was held at the RV Hall of Fame, he said, “We knew we couldn’t match the energy of that milestone event, so we wanted to do something completely different.”
He knew Four Winds Field hosted corporate events and could be a suitable venue to handle the logistics of celebrating their drivers, the food, etc.
“They did not disappoint,” he said, adding that he couldn’t say enough about how well Joe Hart, president of the South Bend Cubs and his team professionally executed the experience of the ballpark.
“I was blown away and everyone who came — our vendors and drivers were blown away by the service, experience and all the details to make it a very nice event,” Jackson reported.
Jackson said they had 500 drivers and guests attend and they had the run of the stadium from 8-10 am. It opened to the public at 10 am for an 11 am game. He said there were about 11 vendors there who represent Horizon like Enterprise and Countryside Inn in Nappanee, etc. All the drivers who attended got custom Cubs T-shirt.
Jackson said they have 56 Hall of Fame drivers and about 30 were in attendance. To be a Hall of Fame driver, they have to achieve one million safe driving miles and/or 1,000 deliveries.
They had a custom Hall of Fame tent for those drivers and inside they were treated to custom jerseys and the number on the back of their jerseys corresponded to the number of years of service. The leadership team were all on the field and the drivers were called down to the field for their baseball bat awards and their photo and statistics were on the Jumbotron. They had fireworks after the awards.
The drivers were integrated into the game as well. One of the drivers, Nic Sieler sang the National Anthem (see video above) after having sent in an audition tape. One of their drivers, Drew Rhyne, threw out the first pitch. Everyone enjoyed the buffet from 11am-1 pm. During the game dispatchers were handing out gift cards. After the 4th inning, Nate Harris, Horizon Transport’s motorized operational manager, and driver Keith Thomas were interviewed in the radio booth. During the 7th inning stretch all the Hall of Fame drivers sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame with the Cubs announcer.
“It was a beautiful day, and everyone got to enjoy the park and fellowship with one another,” Jackson said. “It was so well done and so enjoyable. We do this celebration of our drivers every year and they always enjoy it, but I’ve never seen so many drivers laughing, smiling and hugging like I did that day — it was like they were little kids enjoying the ballpark!”
