Growler 2026 Begins tomorrow (July 28th) at Springdale! We are Ready!
As we approach another year of the Growler, here are a few points of order to remind/inform everyone of…buckle up for this one and get comfortable for this one. Trying to get all info in ONE place!!
- What a tremendous turnout Saturday!! Weather was wet early, but we knocked out a ton of stuff and set ourselves up well for Tuesday. We were done by noon. Thanks so much to all who signed up and came out to help!
- Player bags are no more! REMINDER: You can pick up your bands and T-shirt today between 6 and 8pm at SARC or on Tuesday at the “Player Check-in” location. Any sponsor items donated (aka towels, fliers, etc.) will be available to snag as well. Only parents, kids, or spouses can pick up more than their own items (for their household). NOTE: Captains can not pick up individual items for their teammates.
If you get your items prior… you still need to “Check In” at the GFL Player Pavilion Tuesday (on the deck) to get your Jersey Mike’s sub and Pepsi/Gatorade. - Volunteers are still needed (18 spots remain open). :) Please sign up to assist if you can.
NOTE: ONE new job is monitoring the path between the Food Lion parking lot and SARC to make sure people parked in the correct area. This role was specifically requested by the management group of the parking lot to ensure they don’t have to tow. It’s the easiest job at the Growler… and I put 2 people there so you can talk to someone and/or have a person who can grab drinks or food for the other (if required). Please fill those spots; we are even awarded double hours for those roles… 1 hour worked equals 2 hours toward your team minimum. - Team Volunteer Schedule here: https://growlervolleyball.com/player-info/volunteer
Reminder: Each team has one night of cleanup responsibility during the 4 weeks of the Growler at the different event locations. Captains were given those assignments today. You can trade with other teams, but make sure you are playing at the same place that week and make sure Cristine is aware if a trade happens. We removed the team “day after” responsibility last year and moved that to individual volunteer slots (4). We will do that again. - Jacobs Construction Player Pavilion and Parking spot auction closed last night for Week 1, and the winners are:
Parking Spot 1: Tricia Coppedge
Parking Spot 2: Amy Gretenstein
Player Pavilion: AP Blake / Here for Beer
Take a look for Week 2-4 opportunities here: https://app.charityauctionstoday.com/auctions/2026-growler-44642 - Registration is done. If not registered, you are not playing this year. Sorry.
– St. Baldrick’s site is up to 186 participant pages (182 last year).
– Fundraising is up from 77K to 86K based on this point last year. - The game schedule is located on the website and linked here: https://growlervolleyball.com/2026-schedule-preview/
Assuming no weather or court issues… Please be ready 30 minutes prior to your first game. The scheduled start times for all games are somewhat flexible (given variable length of preceding games)… So please be ready to play when your time comes (which might not be the time on the schedule itself). Consider sneakers for grass games… some prefer it.
Everyone will play 3 games!
IMPORTANT UPDATE… With Mark’s help, we have created a schedule for 4 courts (assuming grass is unplayable) and 5 courts for Tuesday (there is a nice spot of grass that we could use with a tournament-quality pop-up setup that we now have). If we go to 4, we have to reduce time slots to 20 mins (and likely the games to 21), and if we go to 5 courts, we’ll have 25 min slots (and likely stick at 25 but may divert to 21 later). If we do this, the schedule jumbles, and your “6 court” start time that has been advertised on the website is not the same. As such, please plan to get to SARC as early as you can regardless of what the schedule currently states. Below is a good example of how things can change as we compress the # of courts and the teams that should be prepared to be there at 5:30pm (just in case).
I will send communication as early as I can on which schedule we’ll be going with… I’ll be there at 2pm tomorrow, and hopefully the only choice will be obvious before we begin.
Should there be rain, we will do everything we can to finish out the night. It’s too hard to reorganize this thing, so again we will do EVERYTHING we can to get games… which could include delays that extend beyond the current schedule. Please be aware of that. Also, we will take player safety into account as we are able… but also understand this has long been the Growler Rain Policy:
“We’re Growler—Get Grungy, Gritty, Soggy, Sopping, Soakn’… Have fun like you did when you were a kid and play through it. However, if it’s lightning, then seek shelter or the safety of your car until the weather cell has passed. Play will be suspended until it’s safe to play. Unless the courts are flooded or the lightning has set in for the night, we will complete the night’s schedule that night.”
- Thanks to Jacobs Construction we now have 3 Solar light tower systems which should help with less noise and less “exhaust.” :) Very cool!
- Food will be provided by Ruckus, Salt N Lime, City BBQ, and Sharkey’s. Also Jersey Mike’s will be providing subs at the GFL Player Pavilion, and you can also grab a Pepsi product while there (Gatorade, Aquafina, etc.). Of course, we’ll once again be blessed with a later evening visit from Wicked Links (8:30pm) to help satisfy the late evening food needs. Please take a second to thank our sponsors when you can!
Beer will be available from Long Beverage (including Oscar Blues, Highland, Foothills, Miller Lite, and Hi-Wire), as well as White Claw seltzer at various locations. Box wine is also available from Total Wine Inc. - DJ Brent will be providing the music again this year on nights 1 and 4. Thanks to DblR for assisting with the mics and required sound!!
- Growler Gear (T-shirts and hats) are available for sale (prices vary): https://growlervolleyball.com/player-info/growler-gear/
- Admission
$10 – Entrance & Water (Red)
$15 – Entrance & Food/Water (Yellow)
$20 – Entrance, Food/Water & Beer/Wine (Green)
ID Required – No Coolers Allowed
Bands are required for Food, Beverages, and Water
We accept Cash, Credit Cards, Venmo, and PayPal - Parking and Cabana Auction has closed, but Overserved’s auction is back!! Bidding is open and ends Wednesday, August 5th, at 10pm. https://app.galabid.com/overserved2026/items – Lots of cool stuff available – proceeds all go to St. Baldrick’s.
- Please help keep your general area clean… we have a multitude of trash cans (provided by our partner GFL), so locating the trash should not be an issue. Team cleanup assignments have been communicated to captains for Tuesday.
- We encourage you to CARPOOL or Uber to Springdale. Please get with your team members and neighbors to share a ride. There will be security at the Food Lion parking lot helping direct you where you can park over there (they are provided by “us” in accordance with the leasing company that manages that entire shopping center) as well as signage provided by Springdale Printing! Please adhere to what they say (they have actual authority and are working for us… they are one of us and have been awesome to work with), and we CAN’T really operate at our current size without that assisted space to park. Be nice and thank them for their assistance. In general they should be sending you to the designated areas below.
Most of all HAVE FUN!!
Thanks AGAIN to all! Can’t wait for Tuesday!
Bill Speri