Shelburne’s new soccer pitch officially opened

September 24, 2014 · 0 Comments

What a feather in Shelburne’s cap! The opening of Thunder Field on Saturday, September 20th marked the end of an era of consultations, planning, and expert engineering and design.
Ten years in the making, Thunder field is an engineering work of art from the well thought out irrigation and drainage system to the quality of the very unique hybrid grass installed and grown especially for Thunder Field from grass used at the well known BMO field, and is now one of THE best soccer fields in Ontario.
According to Shelburne’s Mayor Ed Crewson, the Town of Shelburne has invested over $800,000 in improvements to Greenwood Park in addition to the financial support received from the Rotary Club and the Government of Canada. What sounds like a lot of money doesn’t begin to define the hard work and dedication and attention to detail involved in planning such necessary recreation facility for all of Shelburne to enjoy for generations to come.
“Today we stand in Greenwood Park where we now have our Skateboard Park, our BMX Bike Park, our Basketball Park and our new soccer pitch, Brigand’s Field and our premier FIFA sized illuminated soccer pitch, Thunder Field,”commented Mayor Crewson, “Here too we constructed the necessary infrastructure for our outdoor winter skating park, and our summer splash pad.”
Sandy Wilson, President of the Soccer Club, Stewart Gardner, Vice President of the Soccer Club, have seen enrollment in Shelburne’s Soccer increase a staggering 20 per cent from last year alone making enrollment climb to somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 children who play soccer. Many adults in the community can remember playing soccer as children here in Shelburne and have continued to play on the adult teams.
“I want to give a very big thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this possible. This is the culmination of twenty years of lobbying,” commented Wilson.
Councillor Benotto commented with pride, “Sure it seems to cost a lot but when you look at the situation, it’s an investment in longevity. This field will be here long after we are gone. I love this town and I’ve lived here all my life and would never want to leave.”
Clearly, Shelburne’s Town Council were not the only ones who worked tirelessly for Shelburne to get it right, selflessly thinking of the future, investing in our children and now, because of that hard work Shelburne soccer players will be able to play on the field that is theirs and be called the “HOME” team with pride.
“This is our “field of dreams” and thunder will roll all over it’s adversaries! It’s a place of pride, a place of destiny, the place where champions will be created!” commented Mayor Ed Crewson.
We have only to take a look at our young Junior Fall Fair Ambassador, Allisha Litt to see one of many future soccer stars that will proudly report, they came from Shelburne, the best small town in Ontario!
What’s next? According to Crewson, the next phase of the Parks Master Plan is set to begin this fall with over $80,000 worth of improvements to baseball Diamond A in Hyland Park and if the new Town Council choose to implement it, the redevelopment of other baseball fields and the creation of additional diamonds in both Hyland Park and KTH Park will commence next year.

By Alex Sher

Junior Fall Fair Ambassador, Allisha Litt, a young soccer star in her own right.

Mayor Ed Crewson and the official first kick-off at the grand opening of Thunder Field in Greenwood Park.

Taking a moment to appreciate a great accomplishment that took many years in the making, MP David Tilson. This park could not have been accomplished without the Canadian Government helping out.