Cookeville Works To Help Teams After Postponement

The city of Cookeville sprang to action after mother nature pushed back the final Blue Cross Bowl game to Sunday.

Vice President of Visitor Development Zach Ledbetter said the city worked to get hotels lined up for Henry County High School players on Saturday.

“We worked with their administration to get a group rate and a block of rooms at one of our local hotels here in Cookeville and Putnam County,” Ledbetter said. “Knox Central decided to go home for the evening and drive back Sunday to prepare for the game.”

Many Henry County fans chose to stay the night in Cookeville to avoid a three plus hour drive back to Cookeville on Sunday morning.

Ledbetter said a call to action was put out to a volunteer base once the game got pushed back.

“We got a smaller group of dedicated individuals willing help us out and make things happen today,” Ledbetter said. “We have been very fortunate to say that today has gone off without a hitch.”

Ledbetter said it marked the first time that Blue Cross Bowl Steering Committee members had to plan for an extra day of games.

“Obviously that is something that is discussed to a certain extent. We have members from law enforcement and public safety on our committee in planning,” Ledbetter said. “You always have to think about mother nature playing a factor in an outside event and have some type of contingency in place.”

Ledbetter said steering committee members will meet Wednesday for a debrief to discuss the positives and opportunities to improve on for next year’s Blue Cross Bowl.