Fourth Of July Celebration Amid The Pandemic

The Rocket City Trash Pandas held a block party as Coronavirus cases continue to spike.

In the fall.

Thank you for joining us tonight -- i'm najahe sherman.

Dan shaffer has the night off.

We have a lot to get to tonight but we want to begin with waay 31's will robinson-smith.

He was at the trash pandas block party at toyota field tonight.

He spoke with some people about how they felt about being in a stadium setting as coronavirus cases continue to spike.

This stadium saw a few hundred people turn out for the fun.

Many who i spoke with say they wanted to get a little flavor of normalcy, while also staying safe.

The sight of a fastball... the crack of the ball against the bat... and of course some good ol' stadium food.

It's an experience many around madison have been longing for for months... that includes the voice of toyota field, antonio beath, who got to call his very first game at the stadium friday night... just not for the teams he imagined.

Antonio beath, voice of toyota field we should've been in it three months ago, but unfortunately we're not.

But a late start is better than no start.

So i'm really excited to get with it.

About 900 tickets were sold to the block party at toyota field when the gates opened.

Everyone who came through got a temperature check and the employees were all wearing face masks.

While they were out in the concourse... max dunkerley and his family did the same.

Max dunkerley, visiting with family my whole family is wearing masks, we're going to try and keep distant from everybody else.

I'm also traveling with hand sanitizer to be extra safe.

As coronavirus cases rise around the state... stadium managers say they were considering making masks mandatory tonight.

They say they're waiting to see if the county puts an order in place first.

Garrett fahrmann, general manager, trash pandas when that takes place, then absolutely we'll be doing that.

But right now, it's a strong recommendation.

But right now its just...we can't really enforce that right now.

Ashli reed and tyler jacobs recently moved to madison county from milwaukee.

She says they kept masks with them in case things got too crowded, but felt that with the turnout early in the evening... there was plenty of space to social distance.

Ashli reed, came to enjoy fireworks it's that balancing act.

You try to distance yourself, but you've got to kind of live your life a little.

With independence day coming tomorrow... some wanted a taste of the fireworks with a crowd tonight... ...so they can do something a little more low key tomorrow.

Max dunkerley, visiting with family we can still have a little bit of fun, but at the same time get out and live a little bit in these trying times.

Garrett fahrmann says they are continuously learning from each event they hold here to make sure they're doing what they need to do in order to keep people safe.

Reporting live from toyota field, will robinson-smith, waay 31 news.