Astros vendors happy to see some familiar faces
They’re enthused about the return of big crowd a year after pandemic shut them out: ‘It is like family’
Even in a Friday afternoon crowd of 41,315 fans — some painted orange and hundreds wearing the same Jose Altuve jersey — Katrelle Gabriel sees familiar faces.
Gabriel and season ticket holder Richard Cyr on Friday exchanged a hug, as old friends do. Then it was back to work. At Astros games, there seemingly is always someone to serve.
“I can’t get enough,” Gabriel said a day earlier in a brief break in the action, as the Astros were easily handling the White Sox in Game 1 of their American League Division Series. “After 16 years, nine in the same spot in this stadium, you develop a family. It is like family.”
It’s a loud gathering that vendors such as Gabriel, 47, are happy to have back after a year of silence — though many are too busy to talk for long.
“Keep it moving,” one man slinging cans of beer told the line Friday. “Lots of thirsty people.”
Sales are big business. In August, the last month for which state records are available, Minute Maid Park was the biggest alcohol seller in the region. Vendors there sold more than $2 million worth of beverages.
Sales were strong Thursday and Friday, various merchants said, as people filed in hoping for a second win and moseyed through Minute Maid with draft pints and souvenir soda cups aplenty. Lines snaked well into the concourse as people grabbed lunch before the first pitch.
“I might get there by the first inning,” Paul Todd joked a little after noon as he waited for barbecue, or perhaps a hot dog.
“I have time to make up my mind,” he said.
In a slightly more competitive game Friday, the Astros pulled away to win 9-4.
The ballpark traditionally is the biggest summertime sales spot for alcohol in the Houston area — then cedes the top spot to NRG Park. This year the gap might be even more pronounced, as Texans fans drink away the pain of what is on pace to be a sub-.500 season.
Meanwhile at Minute Maid, fans tossed them back — in the middle of a workday — in anticipation of long playoff run.
“We’ll keep winning,” said Rod Marks as he balanced nachos on top of two tallboy Corona cans. “And I’ll keep buying.”
For many vendors, such as Gabriel, the atmosphere is part of the allure of the job. She has worked at Minute Maid for 16 years — splitting her time between Houston and New Orleans. For nine, she’s been perched in the same spot atop Section 155. Just above Cyr’s spot in the stands.
All that changed for the playoffs, however. Now an automated stand is at Section 155 and Gabriel is stationed about 50 feet away. Just like the difference between a deep foul ball and a home run, those feet make all the difference.
At least 10 longtime customers called her cell phone, asking where she was.
“You have a connection with your customers,” Gabriel said. “It’s part of being here, who I am for 16 years.”
Now everything is backwards, she said. The cash register is to the right and the beer fridge to the left. She’s facing into the stadium, not away from it.
The change was hard, Gabriel said, especially after the recent death of a friend and the effects of Hurricane Ida on New Orleans.
The adjustment also affected Cyr, who said the automated system has “no personality.”
He’ll take a few more steps to quench his thirst for now, and perhaps get a hug. He’s from New Orleans, he said. Part of the experience is the service and a camaraderie.
“It makes a big difference,” Cyr said. “Here’s a New Orleans word. … She gives a little lagniappe with everybody.”