Football Stadium Review: Art Keller Field (Carthage College)

 Art Keller Field is home to the Carthage Firebirds in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  This stadium is situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, as is the campus.  This makes the late September game I went to last year against Illinois Wesleyan a beautiful setting for the game. It was also Carthage's homecoming, which will not be the last homecoming game I went to in 2025. It was warm yes, but it was picturesque.  So, I guess that's that for the review right?! Welllllll not so fast. As you all know, here's my review of Art Keller Field!

Amenities:

So here's a bit of a new thing, there's a bookstore/dining hall that is connected to the stadium.  That does offer some options for people wanting to cool down on a warm day, or shop Firebirds merch, which they have a LOT of. Through the game, it didn't seem like a lot of the food options inside that hall were open, so that leads me to think it's a Monday-Friday sort of thing.  However, there were numerous food and drink stands on this day. The bathrooms also were in that dining hall type area, so it worked out.  Overall, though the amenities had long lines and while the staff worked hard for trying to thin the lines, with it being homecoming it was going to be a long line. Overall, 4 out of 5.

Atmosphere:

While Illinois Wesleyan won 34-10, there was a sizeable 20-0 lead built up where there wasn't much to cheer about with the over capacity crowd of 3,500 on this day. However, when Carthage got an INT down 20-7, but couldn't get a touchdown off of it to swing momentum, that was the curtain call for quite a number of fans.  Even down 20-10, there was the feeling that the Firebirds weren't coming back.  Quite a shame really, because the crowd was energized for the game.  Any closer of a game or a Firebirds win, this goes to a 5, however as it is, 3.5 out of 5 I think is appropriate.

Location: 

This is an on-campus stadium on the shore of Lake Michigan. A late September game makes it picturesque already, however Homecoming adds more to that of course.  There honestly isn't a ton of food or drink options near by, but you cannot beat the location of where this stadium is. 5 out of 5.

Price:

I'll be honest, I forget how much I paid for the ticket but I know it was under 10. I also had to park about a mile from the stadium due to all of the spots taken up and all the overflow also taken up. However, parking was free and the shuttle was fine. At the stadium, the bookstore merch wasn't incredibly expensive but I didn't get anything and just checked it out. The food and drinks were fine priced, but not overwhelmingly great or bad.  The other stands were a bit more expensive for my liking, but that's a homecoming for you.  Overall, solid 4 out of 5 is warranted here.

Review: 

You cannot beat a great lakeside stadium on a Saturday afternoon and Carthage does deliver that.  The crowd was into the game, and if Carthage capitalizes on a couple more mistakes then the crowd is deep into the game on this homecoming.  However, Carthage will honestly have a good place in my heart over the crowd of just really neat people that attended the game.  16.5 is a good number for you guys, keep up the good work Firebirds.