Swinging into the future: Community brings local diamonds back to life
Generations of ball players celebrated the Grand Opening of the freshly restored Montney Ball Diamonds on July 25
Ever since the Hassard family donated a 10-acre piece of land to the Montney Recreation Commission in the early 1960s, that parcel has been home to generations of ball players of all ages. Unfortunately, for almost 15 years, the diamonds had fallen into disrepair, until Greg Hammond came along.
Over the last year and a half, inspired by Hammond’s idea to rejuvenate the diamonds, Montney community members and area businesses joined together to bring life back to the ball diamonds.
Everything that was wooden had rotted, “and needless to say, the grass was 11 feet high and like any piece of property, it accumulates a certain amount of unneeded things that we spent a lot of time cleaning up, picking up, taking to the dump, taking to the steel recycling, and levelling stuff out,” Hammond said.
Montney community members, along with local businesses such as Tracker Contracting and EM3 worked together to clear the 3-acre camping area of trees and mulch the sod in the in-fields. The land slated for camping has been made available to the MRC by Owen Myhre.
The camping area is a new feature of the Montney Diamonds. Another new feature in the restored playing fields are the dugouts. Built with volunteer labour from materials donated by local businesses, the first of four dugouts was erected in the week before the Grand Opening on July 25.
Hammond hopes to get commitments from town teams to come out to Montney to play on the rejuvenated ball fields, whether it’s youth or adults, tournaments or leagues, everyone is welcome.
“Our intent this year was to just get it open,” he said. “We’ve invited the Fort St. John slow-pitch league, and they’ve said to us is that if you can organize some little tournaments after that like it will fill up because people still just are fanatical about playing baseball every weekend.”
Amongst the debris at the backstop of the Myhre Diamond, Hammond found what looked like a coconut. It was an old burned, softball which Hammond had turned into a trophy for future tournaments – the Montney Diamonds Burnt Ball Tournament trophy.
The best part of the project, he said, “was hearing about the memories that people have, that were made right here.”
One of those memories was learning that Rick Hansen played ball at the Montney fields for two seasons, starting when he was 14 years old.
Each of the ball diamonds has been named in honour of the families who spent so much time, money and effort on helping to restore the fields. The first ceremonial pitch was thrown at the Myhre Field, followed by one on the Hassard Field, the where the first of newly added dugouts is located.
Hammond had a long list of people to thank for their efforts in helping restore the diamonds, including the Peace River Regional District which has long provided support, not only of the ball diamonds, but also the Montney Church and Montney Hall:
“Without your continued support of not only ours, but many other organisations, a lot of these venues would be hard-pressed to see their projects through. It truly is a regional benefit.”
Thanks to the following individuals and businesses who have lent their support in time, materials and services to bring the Montney Diamonds back to life:
Vector Geomatics – Greg Calvert
Tracker Contracting – Greg Wilson
EM3 – Jeff Doyle
Mallory Smith
Northern Truss
Rogers Trucking – Curtis Rogers & family
Bissett family
Xceed Contracting – Troy Hunt
Graham Goertzen
Kosick Aggregates
Kenneth Hample
Signworks – Peter Franklin
GLF
Norm Bateman for the bases and bats
Board of Directors of the MRC – Ron, Noreen, Verena and Sam for food and ice at the Grand Opening
Moose FM – Sydnee Hayes
The Broken Typewriter – Tania Finch
FSJ Slow-Pitch League – Vance Sawchek
Dean Backus
Ernie’s Sports
Bold Promotions – Samantha Warren
Montney Printers – Robert Eby ArcTech Welding
Home Hardware
Peace River Building Products
Safeway Butcher Block
Save On Foods
Thanks also to whoever donated the gates, which Hammond said just appeared one day.
Lastly, Hammond thanked his family for the time they spent together on this project.
“Thank you for believing in what we accomplished hopefully our time and effort will encourage more families to get involved and can continue to make these diamonds a place for making memories of their own,” he said.
“My wife Muggs, our children and grandchildren have all spent many hours here. A special shoutout to our grandson Thomas Jr. who has spent a bunch of his time here with us, I hope over time you come to appreciate what we have done here together, and that you and your cousins continue to give back to the community that you live in.”
In turn, the Montney Recreational Commission thanked Hammond and his wife for their efforts, presenting the pair with a plaque in appreciation.