INNISFAIL – It was five years ago when Jenny Crumley and Murray Reay were on their way home from a year-end Baseball Alberta meeting in Edmonton when they had a notion.
They talked about the state of local ball diamonds, notably Diamond 7, and what would be best for the future of baseball in Innisfail.
Five years later, Crumley is the president of the Innisfail Community Facility Enhancement Association (ICFEA), with Reay its vice-president. Together, along with three others, they have spearheaded the $500,000 Diamond 7 project by the Innisfail Arena to make it the premier baseball facility in the community, and one of the best in central Alberta.
To make the project a reality they needed community support. The Town of Innisfail has chipped in half of the total anticipated cost while the rest must be made up through fundraising.
The Rotary Club of Innisfail has come up to the plate with a $20,000 donation, monies raised from the 35th annual Innisfail Rotary Charity Golf Classic on Sept. 8.
“Obviously, the ball diamond is close to the hearts of a lot of Innisfailians,” said Rotarian James O'Dwyer, chair of the tourney’s organizing committee, on Sept. 8.
The previous year the service club’s annual golf classic was held to support the Innisfail Ski Club, which also received $20,000 from Rotary earlier in the fall.
“In a smaller community, sports really brings people together, whether its hockey or baseball. To be able to support these kinds of projects is important for a community our size,” said Chad Evans, the Rotary club’s treasurer.
For local baseball, Rotary officially answered the call to financially support the Diamond 7 project during a lunch meeting on Dec. 2 at the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion.
“It has been a bit of long process. It’s got a long way to go yet. We can’t say how much we appreciate the support from you folks. It’s unbelievable,” Reay told Rotarians on Dec. 2.
With construction beginning late last spring, Reay said the Diamond 7 project is now about half complete. Since then, the irrigation issues, which have long plagued the field, have been fully addressed and fixed. The sod is laid down and shale is in place. Fencing will be installed over the winter.
“It has come a long way (but) it has a long way to go yet,” said Reay, adding there are dugouts to build, as well as bleachers and a press box. He said there are also plans to have electricity hooked up for a scoreboard.
He said the ICFEA still needs to raise about another $150,000 to fully complete the project to the way they want to have it for the local baseball community. The association is hoping to have the first game on the restored facility sometime next summer.
“Eventually we would like to put up lights at the diamond so it can be an evening playable diamond that we could utilize for AAA ball and bigger events. That is going to take another phase of fundraising,” said Reay. “It’s a big undertaking but it’s coming along very well.”
