Chestermere High School unveiled details of the Athletic Park Upgrade Project, such as new turf, a concession, and dressing rooms with equipment storage to parents on March 20.
The desired outcome of the project is to have a facility that Chestermere teams and county teams can call home, with a total cost of $3,135,918.
“It’s critical for any successful organization to give teams someplace they can call their own,” said Athletic Park Upgrade Project Committee Member Kelsey Johnson.
Upgrading the field and facility is not about one team specifically, it’s about all the teams, and the band, Johnson said.
“This is for the greater area, this will impact everyone in a positive way.
“We want to provide the safest possible field for athletes to play on while increasing recreational opportunities to bring economic benefit,” he added.
By upgrading the turf, Chestermere High School will have an opportunity to host larger events at the facility, like football provincials, that wasn’t before possible.
“We can bring a lot of events here that we’re just not set up to have today. We just need a dressing room and a field. There’s a lot of opportunities here,” Johnson said.
He added, “We can have band competitions here, and we don’t have to worry about what the conditions might be, because we know what they will be.”
Moving forward, the committee is covering grants, and meeting with organizations, however, they need help spreading the word at the grassroots level, Brian Utley said.
“We need people to talk to their neighbours,” Utley said.
Although this project seems ambitious, the committee is happy where they are headed and ready for the challenge.
“Every time I drive by the facility, I always look at it, I remember how much work went into that, this is so much bigger,” he said.
Utley and the upgrade committee are determined to keep working and doing everything they can to ensure athletes have a facility to call home in the near future.
He added, imagining what the facility will look like during Friday Night Lights with the band out, and the stands packed is what gets him through the difficult meetings.
“It will be one of the biggest things in this area you’ve ever seen,” Utley said.
