It wasn’t carved out of an Iowa cornfield, but the Nelson Baseball Association has created its own little Field of Dreams in Uphill.
After many years of planning and several months of landscaping, the baseball diamond at Lion’s Park is almost complete and will be ready for play in the coming spring. They have built it and now it’s up to players to come.
“Wouldn’t you love to come and hang out there to play baseball?” said Nelson Baseball Association president Larry Martel when asked if the new diamond will help bolster registration in the community.
The old diamond at Lion’s Park was determined unfit for proper baseball practices and games. The baseball association took $42,000 it had in a special fund to pay for the upgrades. The result is new fencing, dugouts and a grass infield that is now one of the best in the Kootenays.
The baseball association trusted Nelson’s All Terrain Landscaping with the job designing and overhauling the diamond. Using baseball parks in Kamloops as a model, Derek Levan, Shawn Correnti and their crew from All Terrain pulled it off.
“I don’t think it would have happened without these guys,” said association treasurer Corbin Comishin.
The upgrade also required help from the City of Nelson and the association is thankful for the work done by parks boss Karen MacDonald and the crew. One row of Lombardi poplars were removed in the spring and the second row will be removed by next spring. The trees have been replaced with more appropriate trees for a public park. The city also installed the sprinkler system.
The diamond is now regulation little league (players 11 and under) and would be available to host provincial championships in the future.
The association is also working on plans to upgrade the city’s main baseball diamond — Queen Elizabeth in Fairview — which they hope to execute in the near future.
