Young athletes help break ground for fields project

Young athletes from several school and community sports groups joined Pittsford Town Supervisor Bill Smith and Town Board members Karen Green, Jared Lusk and Mary Gehl Doyle (pictured with group below) on Tuesday, May 19 for a ground breaking ceremony to launch construction of the Town’s Community Athletic Fields Improvement Project.
              
The “gold shovel groundbreaking team” included participants from Pittsford Central School District Varsity teams, Pittsford Community Lacrosse, Pittsford Hawks Soccer Club, Pittsford Little League, Pittsford Mustangs Soccer, Pittsford Panthers Baseball and Pittsford Panthers Youth Football and Cheerleading.

The ceremony was held at the future site of the Town’s new baseball/softball fields along Willard Road which will be accessible via the Calkins Road Middle School entrance.  The Town’s Community Athletic Fields Improvement project is an approximately $6.3 million initiative to provide much needed upgrades to the Town’s athletic fields and facilities at Great Embankment Park, Hopkins Park, and Thornell Farm Park, and create new fields at the Town’s Willard Road property. The project addresses unsatisfactory athletic field conditions stemming from overuse/excessive demand, the inability to take fields off-line to “rest” and regenerate, and grading/drainage issues, while also enabling improved accessibility for all to town athletic fields.

For a brief video of the groundbreaking, visit the Town’s Facebook page.  A photo gallery of the event will be posted on the Town’s website later this week.