By Tad Heitkamp, Blue Dragon Foundation
The Garretson Baseball Field is going to have a new and improved look for the 2021 season, which includes turf going down both baselines, pitcher’s mound, home plate area, and walk paths to and from the dugouts.
This project had been tossed around with the Blue Dragon Foundation Board for several months and after doing some research and long-term cost benefits we decided to move forward.
The first step was selecting a company that could deliver what we were envisioning, which ended up being Enviro-Green Synthetic Turf out of San Diego, CA. This is the same company that completed the baseball field renovation in Canova and will be doing much the same work in Baltic in the coming weeks.
The Blue Dragon Foundation Board then was able to secure funding for the project through grant applications, fund raising events like the Legion and Region 15/16 Tournaments, and a partnership with the local Garretson Blue Jays.
On September 5th, 2020, the Blue Dragon Foundation Board Members and local community members put in a little sweat equity to get the field prepped for the turf coming the week of September 14th. This included hauling in 55 ton of crushed aggregate (material going under the turf), removing the existing agger lime and sod, and leveling/packing the aggregate back into place.
The board would like to thank Jase Benson, Bryce Kindt, Jerry Scholl, and Todd Fink for their time and farm equipment to get this portion of the task completed…thanks fellas!!
