If John Gildersleeve was playing by the rules, he would be designing buildings instead of being in awe of one.
Gildersleeve, a Frazee, Minn., resident, took the day off to watch his son play football while getting a few glimpses of the Fargodome.
Thursday was the "Day at The Dome" where 10 area Minnesota high schools played five football games throughout the day.
"Yeah, you could say to my bosses that this is 'training'," said Gildersleeve, who works at an architecture firm. "It is pretty impressive."
As someone who knows structure's well, he was asked how the Fargodome compares to Frazee's work of art: "Big Tom: The World's Largest Turkey."
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"There's lot more work to this," he said of the Fargodome.
Gildersleeve used the game to get away from work. Robbie Strand, however, used the game for work.
That's because Strand is the starting quarterback at Barnesville. He and 10 teammates used the game to scout other teams to prepare for the playoffs.
Strand has played in the Fargodome before. But he hoped scouting the games would lead him to another dome: The Metrodome for the state championships.
"When you get on the field, it does get intense," said Strand, who played at the Fargodome in a playoff game last year. "There are nerves but when you reach that field, the excitement takes over and the nerves go away."
There are nerves for parents too. Holly Vohnoutka was proof of that. The Detroit Lakes, Minn., resident was at the Fargodome for the first time watching her son play for Lake Park-Audubon.
She pointed out that he isn't that hard to miss.
"My son is really excited to be playing," she said. "Like I tell people, he's the 4-9 kid that weighs 80 pounds, but he loves being out there."
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Cheerleaders were also looking forward to having their day in the sun ... or lights rather.
Jessica Ellman, a senior cheerleader for Ottertail Central (a football co-op of Battle Lake and Henning), said getting a chance to go to the Fargodome is a really big deal because it doesn't happen often. She's had a chance to go to the Fargodome for concerts and other events, but never to cheer.
Ellman said she was excited about cheering, but admitted there was a little bit of intimidation.
That's because if you took all the people living in the towns of the 10 schools that were playing, there would still be at least 15,000 empty seats left in the Fargodome.
"When you put it like that you get nervous," she said. "It's almost like, wow, that's a lot of people. But I am still sure it will be fun."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Ryan S. Clark at (701) 241-5548 or at rclark@forumcomm.com
