Drive launched to rebuild War Memorial Field
Sandpoint baseball player Joel Cramer catches a deep pop fly in front of the old wooden bleachers at War Memorial Field. A group has recently formed with the goal of rebuilding the stadium in the next five years. (Photo by ERIC PLUMMER)
Editor’s note: A group of five people has formed to begin the process of rebuilding iconic War Memorial Field in the next five years. The group includes Doug Hawkins, of Litehouse Foods, Tye Barlow, of Bulldog Bench, SHS athletic director Tom Albertson, Kim Woodruff, from Parks and Rec, and David Keyes, representing the Festival.
SANDPOINT — Five years ago, a fundraising project was held to save the grandstands at War Memorial Field, temporarily. Though solidly built half a century ago, the grandstands had begun to show their age, and without major repairs, they would have been condemned. In one day, the community rallied and came up with the $70,000 needed to patch the grandstands and keep them usable until we could raise the money to rebuild them.
We are now five years into our 10-year patch. At this point, another patch is not an option. The “patches” are going to cost significantly more and we will just be throwing good money after bad. It is time to start raising money for the rebuild.
The rebuild will not be cheap. We want to rebuild the grandstands to have the same visual aesthetic and unique hometown look and feel that they have today. We also want the new grandstands to be solidly built. We don’t want to have to rebuild them every decade, but rather want them to stand the test of time and make it the better part of a century like the current ones have. We want the new grandstands to be a gift from the current generations of Sandpoint to the future.
As well, we need to replace the lights and scoreboards at the field. The scoreboard is on its last leg and the lights are close to being shutdown as a fire hazard. If we want to continue to keep having evening events at War Memorial Field like football games, soccer games, baseball games and the Festival we need to get the lights fixed.
We know that the economy is not the best at the moment. That is why we are giving ourselves five years to raise the money and we are focusing on the absolutely essential elements that need to be fixed: making sure the field is lit, and we all have a place to sit.
In total, the five-year fundraising project will need to raise close to $1,375,000, or just over $250,000 a year on average. To do this we will need to rally the entire community. We are confident that if we all pitch in we will be able to hit our goal.
The timeline for the build on everything is based on the fundraising efforts. The order in which we plan to fund the rebuild is as such: lights, engineering and architectural costs for the grandstands, actual grandstand construction, sounds system for the grandstands and scoreboard, and field improvements.
The lights selected will be designed to last a minimum of 50 years. They cost slightly more up front than the ones that last 20 years, but then require far less maintenance and are more energy efficient going forward. They are the best investment for lighting.
The engineering and architecture costs for rebuilding the grandstands will cost approximately $200,000. The design criteria will be that the new grandstands have the look of our current ones, and be slightly wider and deeper to allow for 20 percent more people and be ADA compliant.
The actual build for the grandstands, for materials, labor and everything, will be approximately $1,000,000. This is the big one with the major sticker shock. But, with five years to raise the money it becomes a more tangible goal. We are not going to try to swallow the elephant all at once. We will be working every angle possible through public grants, corporate donations, and will also need individual commitments for the general population by the tens and twenties and hundreds of dollars a year. With all of that, the numbers will start adding up quicker than it sounds.
The final project of a new scoreboard and general field repairs will require $30,000 or so and will be a nice wrap up to the whole community effort.
Again, we believe that this project will not be easy. But, it is very possible and very necessary. It is the type of commitment we should be making as a community towards our future.
We thank you in advance for your support, and look forward to working with you on this project.