New fields dedication

The new playing fields at the Rec Park in Manchester were dedicated last Saturday, Sept. 3, and it was a stirring sight to see two beautiful playing pitches where not long ago — as in last June — there were mounds of brown dirt. The fields are part of a larger overhaul of the Rec Park that will shift things around here and there, but thanks to a substantial amount of private fundraising, along with a $75,000 contribution from the voters and taxpayers of Manchester, the new new fields, named after two former Burr and Burton Academy teachers, are ready to go for this soccer season.

So area school and club teams will have two additional fields to go with along with Applejack and the other existing fields to play on, and that’s number one. But close behind is the potential for the oft-discussed tournaments and summer soccer or lacrosse camps, but could bring a new influx of visitors and family members for the events. Done correctly and coordinated, the economic activity reflected by these sorts of things can definitely be significant. If a family of four wants to see one of their own play in a tournament, they are going to need a place to stay and will probably go out to eat at least once while they are here. Maybe they’ll do a little other shopping as well. About $500 per person is a reasonable estimate as to how much new revenue such events could bring in. 

And now that we have a couple of new hotels here or in the works that are priced roughly in the broad mid-range of the market, that puts that piece of the puzzle in place.

A good tournament coordinator will be important, and if the Manchester business community is on its game, someone — or some entity — will be getting involved early on to maximize some of these possibilities.

Speaking of which, the “summit” meeting set for next Tuesday, Sept. 13 at the Equinox Resort will go a long way towards answering what that entity is or will be (or not). Clearly, coordinating with the tournaments, when and if they come, would seem a logical task for such a business organization, to spread the word — evenly– about what the visitors could do when one of the kids isn’t in one of the games. Granted, each individual business could do that also, but that’s a lot of work for small businesses and the people who run them, that  already have their days, minutes and hours spoken for. Plus there’s the whole mission of alerting people before they get here to the notion that yes, their whole weekend isn’t going to be split between a hotel room and the Rec Park.

And this is just one slice of that bigger puzzle.

For now, the fields are here, on time, we assume on budget, and let the games begin. We’ll see if this turns into an “if they build it, they will come” situation.

And btw, we have a news segment on the fields dedication nearly done, and should be on the air this Friday. We’ll post the link asap.