Friday Harbor football fans, mark your calendars.

The 2013 season will usher in the 40th anniversary of the Friday Harbor High School football program, and plans are well under way for a grand celebration in conjunction with the Wolverines home opener on Sept. 6.

Friday Harbor will host the Seahawks of Anacortes in the first game of the 2013 season. Forty years ago, it was the Concrete Lions that running back Craig Blakeway and company matched up against in the first-ever Wolverine gridiron contest. A reunion honoring all 40 teams, including the ground-breaking 1973 squad, is part of the plan.

The list of activities, celebrations, festivities and specially assembled memorabilia is long, and, in some cases, unprecedented. Like a commemorative DVD, featuring scenes from the ‘73 game and the entire 2013 home opener.

Prepared by local videographer Gerard Woldtvedt, the DVD will also include highlights and commentary from many of the players on the Wolverines very first team, sharing stories about Friday Harbor football “back in the day”. (Reels of 16mm film of the many of the very first games, donated by the Tarte family, will be converted into digital as part of the project.)

But that’s not all, not by a long shot.

Former players will be escorted onto the field, by decade, for recognition and a group photo. And at halftime, Friday Harbor will unveil for the first time a Wolverine Football Hall of Fame, highlighted by an induction ceremony for the 15 former players who have been selected from the past four decades. Who will they be?

The game program is sure to be a collector’s item as well. Printed in full color, its front cover will feature the ‘73 team and roster, and the 2013 team, along with roster, will be featured on the back cover. In between will be 30 pages with each team —  ‘74 thru 2012 — and a centerfold, in color, highlighting the Hall of Fame inductees.

And there’s more.

The Purple & Gold booster club will be grilling hamburgers and hotdogs, admission tickets will be designed as keepsakes, and the pre-game “fan tunnel”, which the 2013 team will run through on its way to the field, will consist of former players representing forty years of Wolverine football.

The evening program begins at 5 p.m., two hours prior to kick off. Don’t be late.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Jenny Ledford, 370-5314.