One phase of the Memorial Field upgrade is done and the next phase is about to begin.
The Abington High Athletic Department will debut the field’s upgraded lighting system tonight during the Green Wave’s home game against Apponoquet.
And starting Monday, the back half of the complex will be closed to public use until next spring while contractors rebuild and realign about 3 acres of space.
“Members of the DPW and Abington School Department have worked closely with impacted youth organizations to ensure that teams will still have adequate space to practice, even if it is at a new location,” Athletic Director Peter Serino said in an email to the community.
The Beaver Brook Playground will remain open during the work.
Town Meeting approved spending more than $2 million in Community Preservation Act funds on the two phases of work, which represents the first major investment in the historic field in more than 30 years.
Project managers for the town, representatives from the athletic department, and a crew from Island Lighting & Power Systems gathered Thursday night at Memorial Field to test the new lighting system. The new LED lights popped right on, bathing the field and stands in bright light.
The new lighting system features shields that cut down on light pollution, similar to the lighting system used at the Abington High School turf fields. While the fields were lit up bright, the areas outside the passing surfaces were notably dark.
Island Power had to install two new poles behind the visitors sideline to support the new lighting array, as well as replace each lighting fixture on the remaining poles.
Up next is a major reconfiguration of the back half of the Memorial Field complex, which was originally a small drumlin known as Whiskey Hill. R.A.D. Sports, which rebuilt portions of the varsity baseball field last year, won the bid for the work., which involves moving the junior varsity baseball field into the back corner of what’s currently known as the “Dust Bowl” for its lack of soil and grass. R.A.D. is also being asked to remove the existing chain link fencing and backstops, upgrade the irrigation system, and place approximately three acres of new sod throughout the expanded playing fields and practice areas.
By using sod instead of seed, Serino said athletic teams should be able to start using the new field space by the spring.
The contract for this new phase of work is valued between $1.1 and $1.3 million, said Shawn Reilly, who is helping coordinate the project.
Reilly said volunteers from the Abington Green Wave Boosters this past summer also painted the wooden team benches, powerwashed the Memorial Field bleachers, and cleaned and painted the Frolio School locker rooms.
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