The baseball season is just around the corner and one nearby Saskatchewan community will have a freshly upgraded facility just in time for first pitch.
Construction recently began in Cabri on the town's ballpark complex to the toon of nearly $140,000, with half of that coming from the federal government's Canada Community Revitalization Fund (CCRF). The other half of the tab will be picked up by the town and Cabri Minor Ball via other grants, fundraisers, and donations.
Cabri CAO Janelle Desautels said they were thrilled to find out in December that their grant application to the government of Canada in June of 2021 had been approved.
"We had known that our ball diamonds needed upgrades for a while," she said. "The grant really fit perfectly for what we wanted to do at the ball diamond."
The project will see new fencing (backstops included), benches, and dugouts for diamonds one and two. A grass-to-shale conversion on the infield for diamond one (diamond two was done in 2018) with help from the RM of Riverside. Underground power is slated to be hooked up on June 1, a new feature.
"We've got the fences down and the new ones set to be installed next week," she explained. "Then the grass conversion [is next]."
Perhaps the flashiest addition to the ballpark will be a concession stand with washrooms expected to arrive late in May from Alberta.
"It's a sea can conversion, so that's exciting," she said. "It's going to be something new and different that we've really never seen before but it just fits perfectly for our project out there."
Weather permitting - the project is expected to be completed by the first week of June.
