KEVISVILLE - Abandoned more than two decades ago, the cherished ball diamonds of Kevisville are now once again the fields of dreams.
The hamlet, 44 kilometres west of Innisfail, has been a ball community since 1912, with its first ball diamond located just south of the hamlet's church.
The name of the first team that played there was the Jack Pine Savages. In the early 1960s a group of young ball players set out to find a new place to build one or two ball diamonds. The small ball diamond at the Kevisville Church was shut down for various reasons.
Three kilometres east of the church was a parcel of grazing lease land. Tage Damgaard was the government leaseholder at that time. After some time, the ball players and Damgaard came to an agreement to build a ball diamond there. Then the work began and that group of young ball players called themselves the Kevisville Braves.
They had to clear the land and work it up to seed it down to grass. Only one diamond was built at that time. Let the games begin, and they did! After a few years, in 1967, the players received a grant from the Wild Rose Foundation to clear the hill on the west side of the diamond. This became the Sky Hill. It was not very big but it worked well for tobogganing.
In the early 1970s, another diamond was constructed. Snow fence was put up around the diamond area.
In the mid-1980s the Gwendale Elks Club was formed. They had some pipe and metal fencing donated at that time. The Kevisville Braves, the Spruce View Savages and the Gwendale Elks built fences around both diamonds to keep the cattle out. The Gwendale Elks also built a cookshack at that time that was used for ball tournaments.
There were ball games held almost every night in the summer as well as many tournaments. Often there were as many as 16 teams playing in the tournaments. Players came from all over – Kitscoty, Lloydminster and Drayton Valley to name just a few places. Everyone remarked on the beautiful location and the fun that they had at the Kevisville ball diamonds.
The Gwendale Elks also held a horseback poker rally annually with the ball diamonds being the staging area. Unfortunately, this was shut down several years later when the insurance became too costly. The diamonds were closed permanently in the late 1990s due to changes in leaseholders and insurance concerns.
Two and a half years ago Spruce View ballplayers were informed they may be losing their ball diamond in Spruce View to make room for the new water plant. They went to work to find a place for a new ball diamond. It was found to be too expensive to build on the west side of the Spruce View Hall. I wondered what was wrong with the Kevisville ball diamonds and suggested the possibility of getting them operational again. So we started to look into what we had to do to get them back.
We went to see the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Office and Grazing Lease Stewardship Code of Practice in Red Deer and then on to Edmonton. We were able to lease a 20-acre parcel of land where the diamonds are located. On Sept. 1, 2017, we were able to start the cleanup of the diamonds.
Spruce View Lions partnered with the Gwendale Elks to return the diamonds to use. Whitecap Resources has also been instrumental in this rejuvenation. There have been several community members who have helped with the labour involved in cleaning up the diamonds.
The area is once again called the Kevisville ball diamonds.
We have been playing ball there this summer. If anyone would like to make a donation to the upkeep of the ball diamonds, it would be greatly appreciated. Inquiries can be made to Dick Foesier at 403-728-3287 or Curtis McKain at 403-357-9034 or 403-728-2336.
Dick Foesier is the president of the Kevisville Ball Diamonds Association, and has been a nearby community resident since 1979.
