By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

FLORENCE - With only three baseball games played so far at Champion Window Field, the long-term economic impact the Florence Freedom will have on the city remains to be seen.

Some local businesses, though, had a pretty good first weekend.

"We set a record in sales for the week, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday had a lot to do with it," said Derrick Clifton, general manager of Wendy's restaurant on Dream Street.

The Freedom opened the $8 million stadium off U.S. 42 Friday night to 4,453 fans. Saturday and Sunday drew crowds of 2,856 and 1,585, respectively, giving the team an opening weekend total of 8,894.

The average per game of 2,965 ranks fourth in the 12-team Frontier League.

Clifton, whose restaurant is about a half-mile from the stadium, said he was prepared for the rush.

"I got the Freedom schedule off the Internet and knew it was coming," said Clifton, who scheduled 12 employees Friday night instead of the usual nine. "At about 10 o'clock we started getting killed."

At Rally's Hamburgers at U.S. 42 and Industrial Road, general manager Aimee Young said business was up Friday and down Saturday, both by small dollar amounts.

Sunday, though, caught the restaurant off guard. About the time the game let out, she said business was brisk.

"It was really surprising, especially being Father's Day," said Young. "We've never done that well on a Sunday. It was a lot busier than usual."

The big winner among hotels for the season may be Microtel on Woodspoint Drive, about two miles from the stadium. That's because the hotel has a contract with the Freedom to house the visiting teams this year. That means about 16 rooms are booked each day the Freedom have a home game. They play 48 home games a year.

"We had to turn away business, including tour groups this past weekend," said Sue Castle, director of sales for Microtel. Castle said accommodating the teams has also led to players' families and traveling fan clubs reserving rooms this season.

Mayor Diane Whalen said when the idea of bringing a minor league team to Florence surfaced about five years ago, a feasibility study done by the city didn't show huge dollars coming in.

"But that could change when people from closer communities like Chillicothe (home of the Chillicothe Paints) travel with their team," said Whalen. "The fact that out-of-town teams do stay at hotels and people do come in and eat at restaurants, we know there will be some impact."

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E-mail williamcroyle@yahoo.com