The World's Largest Touring Baseball Fan Festival Returns to Des Moines
July 19, 2005 (Des Moines, Iowa) — The most extensive traveling festival celebrating minor league baseball in history is on its way back to Des Moines. The Principal Financial Group® is bringing The Principal Family Fun Fest back to Principal Park July 21 and 23. The family-oriented event, which is free and open to the public, includes a traveling minor league baseball museum and a fan festival midway with more than 20 baseball-themed attractions, including inflatable batting and pitching cages, bungee runs, a giant slide, and a video game trailer.
"We're delighted to bring The Principal Family Fun Fest back to Des Moines this year to celebrate minor league baseball and draw attention to our own I-Cubs," said J. Barry Griswell, chairman and chief executive officer of The Principal®. "More than 20,000 fans visited the ballpark while the festival was here last summer. We hope to see as many again this year."
The Principal Family Fun Fest will coincide with other events at Principal Park and will be open to the public on the following days and times:
- Thursday July 21, 4 to 7 p.m. preceding the I-Cubs game with the Albuquerque Isotopes at 7:05 p.m.
- Saturday July 23, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in conjunction with the Iowa State High School Baseball Tournament.
New this year is The Principal 401-K Challenge and sweepstakes, which challenges teams along the tour route to be the first to record 401 strikeouts at home. The winning team will receive The Principal 401-K Challenge Cup and one fan of the winning team will receive a $5,000 National Grand Prize. Fans can register to win at the official Principal Family Fun Fest web site (www.principal.com/funfest). In addition, a local Grand Prize winner will be selected from each market to receive a complete Topps Baseball Card set and other prizes.
"As the nation's 401(k) leader, we are especially excited about introducing the new Principal 401-K Challenge. This challenge will create awareness to the hundreds of thousands of fans attending the festival about the importance of saving for retirement, as well as incorporate a fun competition among teams and their fans," said Griswell.
In 2004, the tour visited 53 teams, two All Star games and drew more than 250,000 fans. The debut coincided with minor league baseball's most successful attendance season in history, which saw over 40 million fans come through the turnstiles.
The Principal Family Fun Fest is scheduled to visit 56 minor league ball teams including the I-Cubs, across the United States in 2005 with more than 60 separate events.
The Principal is sponsoring the tour through 2006. The Principal Family Fun Fest is produced by Entertainment & Sports International, Inc. (ESI). A list of all cities scheduled for 2005 is attached. To learn more about the tour visit www.principal.com/funfest.
About Entertainment & Sports International
Entertainment & Sports International is a partnership of two experienced sports and entertainment executives who have worked with some of the best-known entertainment brands of the past two decades. From offices in New York and West Palm Beach, Fla., the company creates and produces distinctive and proprietary sports and entertainment properties and events.
About The Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group®
(The Principal®)1
is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $174.7 billion in assets under management2 and serves some 14.9 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.
1) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
2) As of March 31, 2005.
