Fresno Grizzlies Bring Back Mascot Marriages

While other teams around the country are blowing out their Star Wars Day promotions for May 4, the Fresno Grizzlies will celebrate the first anniversary of one of the minors’ most original promotions from 2016, when they turned the ballpark proposal on its head and had couples get married during a game at Chukchansi Park.

The only catch? The ceremony would be presided over by Fresno’s big, yellow mascot, Parker T. Bear. The Grizzlies got him licensed over the Internet and welcomed all happy couples to their park to seal their nuptials.

After Parker sealed three couples’ unions last year, the Grizzlies are expecting four more to tie the knot during their game on Thursday. The centerpiece, however, will be courtesy of the team’s biggest fan, Danny Rivas, and his fianceé.

“This year, we actually have a main wedding. We have a super fan who comes to just about every game and wears something that looks like Ultimate Warrior face paint,” Fresno media relations coordinator Paul Braverman said. “It’s funny, because if you talk to him he’s completely normal. He’s not a weird super fan at all.

“But he and his wife-to-be are here at almost every home game and, naturally, he proposed to her on the field during a between-inning contest. So they got engaged here and now they’re going to get married here.”

As was the case last year, all you need to have your wedding at the park is a valid marriage license and a ticket to the game—the Grizzlies are offering buy-one, get-one free deals on field-level reserved tickets with your marriage license.

A year ago, during Braverman’s first season on the job after moving over from the independent Atlantic League’s York Revolution, he couldn’t believe his ears when he found out just what his new team was about to attempt.

“I didn’t think it was real,” he said. “Because what anthropomorphic character can actually be ordained as a minister? I knew people could get that done online, I was vaguely familiar with that, but it is the real deal because the guy in the suit is fully ordained. But of course, like every mascot character, he doesn’t talk, so that was the one workaround we had to do. But as long as there was another justice of the peace present, he didn’t have to talk.”

And to prove that there are rules even with mascot-officiated weddings, the person inside the Parker T. Bear costume must be the same every time for the marriage to be official. The person, not the costume, was ordained, after all.

This year, the Grizzlies are taking the festivities a step further. As if having your wedding officiated by a mascot wasn’t special enough, the team this season is providing a DJ and photographer to make every couple’s moment extra special.

There are also options to add other Grizzlies fans to your wedding party (for $20 more apiece) and ticket packages that include cake and appetizers, if a couple chooses to make their event even bigger.

With Rivas and his fiancée and three more couples slated to get married during the game, Chukchansi Park promises to be the site of a whole lot of Bear-y special moments on Thursday.