Sports-Plex awarded major grant
Last week Gov. Kay Ivey announced the Demopolis Sports-Plex received $247,675 from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The money already has been spent to rehabilitate and renovate baseball fields, press boxes, concession stands and lighting systems in preparation for the 2019 Babe Ruth World Series held in August.
“It really gave the park a good face lift,” said Walker Reynolds, Park and Rec Department director for the City of Demopolis.
Reynolds said the Series volunteers started looking at ways to fund the tournament to make it profitable for the city. They had missed the deadline for the LWCF grant, so they filed for retroactive funding.
Not sure if the LWCF grant would be awarded, the World Series committee secured donations from local business and individuals. Being awarded the grant means “we’re going to end up making a large chunk of money for the city,” Reynolds continued. “That’s not including the economic development it brought to the city.”
Since the World Series was paid for through the sponsorships, “the grants are just going to make it to where all the stuff we spent is profit,” he added. “We made a pretty good package for our sponsors. “They all bought in.”
Almost all the money is accounted for in preparations for the World Series, but the younger players who use the Sports-Plex weren’t forgotten. Remaining funds are designated for covers on the batting cages and lighting upgrades for boys and girls 12 years of age and under.
The “trickle down” effect from the grant means the Park and Rec board will have money to put toward hosting the next state high school bass tournament and conduct the boat races on the Tombigbee River next summer. “Even the golf course is better off because of the World Series.”
The reimbursement helps the city prepare for the Babe Ruth Southwest Regional Tournament in July. Reynolds greatly appreciates the major donors who stepped up to fund the World Series. The sponsors’ contributions also cover the 2020 regional tournament.
“We’ve already done the work for (the tournament) so there’s no more overhead. It’s just sitting there waiting for them,” said Reynolds. “
“Having the World Series has actually not put us on the map but put us back on the map,” he continued. The city once hosted a number of tournaments until other cities began constructing sports complexes of their own.
“We really were the first in the state to start doing something like this” 20 years ago when he started working for the city, said Reynolds.
“I think the big thing is that it lets people know we’re not out here just doing the Thursday night men’s league, that we’re back in the elite category. It gives us a chance to showcase what we can do.”
Now that Demopolis has been awarded the grant, Reynolds has started preparing all the paperwork and gathering the receipts in order to receive the money.
The LWCF was created by Congress in 1965 to assist with the development and preservation of outdoor recreational facilities. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs manages the program in Alabama.
Under the LWCF program, recipients are required to match the amount of the award with cash or in-kind commitments.
Demopolis was one of 12 communities to receive a portion of the $2.6 million awarded in the state.