On most nights during the baseball season, Nationals Park has tens of thousands of fans filling the seats for a game, but on Monday, August 9, the park hosted a more intimate concert for “A Night at the Park,” a charity dinner and concert benefiting Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman’s Zims Foundation.
The inaugural Washington area fund-raiser garnered $200,000 for the foundation, which is dedicated to finding treatment and a cure for multiple sclerosis. More than 700 guests attended, including nine of Zimmerman's teammates.
The benefit had three ticket levels: general admission, elite, and V.I.P. Guests in general admission had access to the concourse level, where silent auction items were on display and game-day food and drinks were available for purchase. Elite and V.I.P. tickets offered admission to the stadium’s club level, where elite ticket holders gained access to the PNC Diamond Club and V.I.P guests could spend their time in the Lexus President’s Club. Both clubs offered buffets and open bars. Magician David Blaine performed slight-of-hand tricks in the Lexus President's Club.
When it came time for the concert, guests made their way into three lower-level seating sections that offered panoramic views of the stadium and the stage built over prime seating behind home plate. After a lengthy but lucrative live auction, the M.C., NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd, introduced troubadour Mutlu, who was followed by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Amos Lee.
