Niwot Youth Sports completed the first phase of the Dream of Fields project April 26 with the digging of an irrigation pond for the Monarch Ballfields.  NYS sponsored a Dream of Fields Festival last July which raised over $40,000 for construction of two new ballfields as well as an improved watering system for the four existing fields which are  located west of 79th Street and north of Highway 52.  

Project supervisor and NYS volunteer Gregg Hangge worked with Steve and Brett Crall of Crall & Bowes to dig the pond, located just southeast of the existing fields next to Community Food Share.  NYS volunteers piped the ditch lateral from the Star Ditch last fall to be able to bring water to the pond.  

Hangge, a long time NYS coach and administrator, reported that the equipment operators encountered clay at a depth of approximately eight feet, which was then used to line the entire pond.  The expansive soil is expected to form a seal once water is brought to the pond, eliminating the need to truck in clay from an outside source, leaving additional funds for other needed improvements.  

Dirt from the pond site was used to level the two new field sites approximately 500 feet west of the pond.  Rich Koopman of Boulder County Parks and Open Space supervised the layout and design of the pond, which is located partially on Outlot A of Monarch Park (the ballfield site) and partially on county open space.  
The pond will be used to temporarily hold ditch water for irrigation of the ballfields.  A drip system for trees and shrubs on the perimeter of the ballfields will also be installed.  

Crall & Bowes agreed to do the excavation work at a substantial discount for NYS as an in-kind donation to the Dream of Fields project.  The discounted cost represents the first funds spent from the Dream of Fields fundraising.  

Steve Crall of Crall & Bowes, a long-time Niwot resident, coached both of his sons in NYS baseball when they were growing up, including Brett who now works with his father in the business.  Other commitments for in-kind donations of goods and services have been received, including landscaping and electrical work for the pump.  The value of the in-kind donations are in addition to the $40,000 cash raised, and NYS volunteers hope the in-kind donations will allow them to stretch the funds even further. 

Although the funds raised from the Dream of Fields Festival will go a long way in constructing the fields, the bare bones retail cost of a new ballfield, not including the water source, is approximately $60,000 according to Hangge.  Parking lot improvements, bleachers, landscaping, maintenance equipment and other amenities represent additional costs.  Due to the outstanding support NYS received last summer and in the past from Niwot and Gunbarrel area merchants, NYS agreed to place a moratorium on new fundraising activities for a year.  

Next on the agenda is actually getting water into the pond for a test run.  With the lack of moisture, ditch water has been scarce or non-existent so far.  “We need to get some water into the pond to make sure the pipes we installed are intact,” Hangge noted.  

With NYS baseball and softball already underway, the new system will come none too soon for the parched fields, which are now watered sparingly with tap water, which has proved to be expensive and inadequate to keep the existing grass in good condition.    

Hangge is working with Rock Creek Landscaping co-owner Rick Kurcab of Gunbarrel, another former NYS coach, to design the irrigation system from the pond to the existing fields as well as the new fields.  NYS parent Scott Strohl has volunteered to coordinate the electrical work for the pump. Community Food Share has offered to run the electrical line in from its building, next door to the pond.  With additional support and in-kind donations, NYS hopes to soon have players on the new fields.

Photo by Bruce Warren

A road grader stands by after smoothing the dirt on one of the new ballfields at Monarch Park.  

Photo by Bruce Warren

The new holding pond for irrigation water at the Monarch Park Ballfields is ready for water.