by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
They built it, they came and they’re still coming – by the thousands.
The success of the baseball fields in Pinecone Central Park echo the one in the famed movie Field of Dreams, as Greg Neeser pointed out during a May 30 grand opening of the park.
Neeser is one of three Sartell businessmen who formed the Pinecone Central Park Association. Through a partnership with the City of Sartell, Neeser, Paul J. Hanson and Gordy Meyer developed and built facilities in the park.
The nearly 40 acres of private golf-course land was purchased in 2008 by the city with money from the half-cent regional sales tax.
Last Friday’s grand opening, emceed by Sartell resident Pat Edeburn, took place at the park’s large concession stand, dubbed Park Café. About 75 people gathered there to hear speeches from many people involved with development of the park.
Sartell Mayor Joe Perske said, “This is the happiest and one of the greatest days Sartell has ever had.”
The park and its athletic facilities will help Sartell move forward for decades, Perske said, noting that for many years so many Sartell children had to leave the city to play games on fields in other places, with not enough playing fields of their own.
Perske said that without the half-cent sales tax, the park would not exist. He thanked many people who were instrumental in securing the land and helping develop the park during the past six years. Many of them attended the grand opening, including city council members Steve Hennes, David Peterson, Amy Braig-Lindstrom; former council member Sandra Cordie; city development/planning director Anita Rasmussen, former financial director and now city administrator Mary Degiovanni; former city administrator Patti Gartland and the trio sometimes dubbed “The Three Amigos” – Hanson, Meyer and Neeser. Perske noted those three were recently named “Citizens of the Year” by the Sartell Area Chamber of Commerce. They could just as well be named “Citizens of the Decade,” Perske said as the audience applauded.
Neeser gave statistics about the mammoth amount of work that went into the making of Pinecone Central Park. Much of the playing-field parts of the park had to be raised four feet by massive movement of soil. That is equivalent to raising four football fields with dirt to a height of 70 feet. Fifteen thousand feet of sod had to be installed, thanks to hundreds of hours of volunteer labor. Water, sewer and electric lines were added. A road was built through the park, east to west. A large parking lot was constructed.
None of it would exist if it weren’t for the intensive fundraising efforts by the Pinecone Central Park Association, led by Neeser, Meyer and Hanson. The association has also taken on responsibility of managing and operating the park facilities.
Currently, the park features four baseball fields and six multi-purpose fields (soccer, lacrosse, football, Frisbee), a pavilion, concession stand and bathrooms. Next in line are playing fields for younger children (ages 13-14), a fenced-in dog park and – possibly – an inline skating park.
Hanson told the audience the summer schedule is already filled except for just two weekends that remain open. An estimated 30,000 people will come to the park this summer for activities, including for planned Music in the Park and Movies in the Park nights.
Hanson said it took a lot of work and coordination to get the park up and running but that “It was all worth it.”
Seeing kids come to play on fields right in central Sartell is the best reward for the money and work that went into the park, Hanson said.
Sartell baseball coach Pete Johnson said 375 local children will now be able to play games on local fields. Johnson presented a plaque to Meyer for helping create a “wonderful home for a generation of Sartell baseball.”
Bob Jasper of the Minnesota Twins Community Fund “Fields for Kids” praised the new park, noting he was proud to have it in Twins territory. The Twins Community Fund helps develop baseball facilities throughout the state and donated about $10,000 in grants to Pinecone Central Park, a grant that is renewable through applications every three years.
The last speaker, Meyer, gave lavish thanks to all who made the park possible, contributors large and small. Some of the largest who gave $100,000 or more were Dan and Mabel Coborn, Joe’s Excavating (in donated excavation work), Joe Miller for designing and planning, and Sartell businessman and former council member Pat Lynch. Many others gave cash or goods and services ranging from $25,000 up to $100,000. And still others, hundreds of people, gave smaller donations.
During the grand opening, a group of seven young Sartell friends, all in their early teens, sat at a picnic table and slurped on their quickly melting vanilla ice-cream cones. The buddies were Logan Carlson, Max Fesenmaier, Wesley Nesland, Dalton Notsch, Matt Sieben, Gavin Swenson and Gage Vierzba.
After a reporter asked them what they think of the playing fields, they all piped up with happy voices:
“Wonderful!”
“Amazing!”
“I like it!”
“Well, the fences are too short.”
“Yeah, they are, but the fields are really nice.”
“Yes, very nice.”
“It’ll be good to have fields here just for our ages.”
photo by Dennis Dalman
Baseball buddies, all Sartell residents, enjoy ice-cream cones on a hot day at the grand opening May 30 of Pinecone Central Park. The friends gave rave reviews to the playing fields at the new park. From left to right (front row) are Dalton Notsch, Logan Carlson, Matt Sieben, Max Fesenmaier and Gage Vierzba; (back row) Gavin Swenson and Wesley Nesland.
photo by Dennis Dalman
Theo Edeburn steps up to the concession-stand counter, ready and eager to take a customer’s order. Theo, sporting his Sartell baseball uniform, was helping his parents, Pat and Ann Elise, at the grand opening of Pinecone Central Park.
photo by Dennis Dalman
Founders of the Pinecone Central Park Association, sometimes affectionately called “The Three Amigos,” are (left to right) Gordy Meyer, Paul J. Hanson and Greg Neeser.
photo by Dennis Dalman
Three city officials who had a hand in the development of Pinecone Central Park are (left to right) city council member Steve Hennes, former Sartell City Administrator Patti Gartland and former council member Sandra Cordie. They were thanked profusely by speakers at the park’s grand opening May 30.
photo by Dennis Dalman
Sartell Mayor Joe Perske gives a pep talk peppered with praises and thank-yous at the grand opening of Pinecone Central Park.
photo by Dennis Dalman
Right after the grand opening May 30 at Pinecone Central Park, baseball boys start practicing for games slated to start at 6 p.m. In this photo, boys from Mahtomedi practice catching and throwing. The fields are booked solid all through the summer, except, so far, for only two weekends.
photo by Dennis Dalman
Parents and a few siblings relax, getting ready to watch kids play baseball at the fields of Pinecone Central Park in Sartell.
photo by Dennis Dalman
This is the logo for the large concession stand at Pinecone Central Park.