Minor Football Cuts Ribbon Announcing Field Upgrades
Between the two U12 games held Saturday evening at Elks Athletic Field the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League held an official ribbon cutting to announce the major renovations and upgrades at the field.
Moose Jaw Mayor Clive Tolley attended the event where he cut the ribbon.
Mayor Tolley said partnerships were necessary to maintain and upgrade facilities in the City and thanked the Kinsmen for stepping up.
“The City of Moose Jaw doesn’t have enough money to keep the facilities out there so we need partnerships…the Kinsmen keep stepping up over and over again,” Mayor Tolley told the hundreds of cheering minor football fans gathered for the announcement.
Mayor Tolley said the Kinsmen support was “awesome” for helping upgrade the facilities.
Speaking on behalf of the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club Cory Olafson said the club “couldn’t be happier” for supporting the upgrades.
The Kinsmen’s contribution sees the previously named Caribou Heights Sports Complex - which includes Eddy Moore Park and Elks Athletic Field - now renamed the Kinsmen Sports Complex.
Moose Jaw Mayor Clive Tolley (center) cuts the ribbon to officially announce the major upgrades coming to Elks Athletic Field. The upgrades will be funded as shared contributions from the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club, the City of Moose Jaw and Minor Football - MJ Independent photo
The Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club will contribute $100,000, Moose Jaw Minor Football will contribute $30,000 and the City of Moose Jaw $95,000 towards upgrades.
The upgrades will include:
65,000 for new LED lighting at Elks Field to be completed in 2024
$65,000 for new aluminum bleachers at Elks Field installed in 2024
$75,000 for three new scoreboards to be completed in 2024
$15,000 for building upgrades completion in 2024
$3,000 for washroom upgrades completion by fall 2023
$2,000 to remove old tower at Elks Field - already completed
Minor Football will be completing additional upgrades outside the announced project
The cheque in the ribbon cutting shows the Kinsmen Club’s contribution to the project - MJ Independent photo
The lighting changes will see the old power hungry tungsten lighting replaced with more energy efficient LED lighting. The new lighting will not only be cheaper to run but also produce a more uniform lighting and colour temperature lighting for the field.
The Minor Football group also plans to install new outdoor speakers on their own initiative to make for a better listening experience for spectators and teams.
The new scoreboards became necessary as the present scoreboard at the field has burnt out bulbs that due to the system’s age are next to impossible to source.
The League has went so far as cannibalizing bulbs from the neon sign graveyard in Las Vegas but they were unable to acquire sufficient replacement bulbs making replacement of the existing scoreboard the cheapest and best option.
At the present time the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League is experiencing a major growth in the number of children - both girls and boys - playing football.
Editor’s Note - the photos in this report were printed in black and white due to the wide ranging colour temperature in this area of the field.