| The Express have come great lengths in their quest to renovate the local baseball diamond. The status of where they?re at in completing this project, sharing how much time and material was donated, who has helped donate and where all the money is coming from for the renovation is as follows. |
| The outfield wall and scoreboard plans will continue in March. The Express will start erecting the frame work and slap on the tin the third week in March if weather permits. Hopefully by the end of April the outfield wall will be complete and scoreboard up. The only obstacles facing the field will be seeing how the grass will come up as the cold fall weather didn?t allow for much growth. Re-seeding the field may be necessary. Centerfield needs a little fill yet and the warning track will need to be laid out. |
| Remaining materials needed to finish the first phase will be ag-lime. This is the material used on the infield skin. The field needs one more load on the infield and about four or five more loads for the completion of the warning track. The Express are welcoming anyone who would like to donate a truck load. |
| Phase one of the renovation will come to a total ofabout $40,000. The biggest expense was for the excavation. The Express reached an agreement with Kuechle Underground that all the machinery time and the topsoil hauled in would be donated. The operator?s time was paid by the Express. Hendricks Sand & Gravel donated trucks for the hauling of excess materials in and out of the park. |
| Others donating time and material were Arnold?s of Kimball, who donated one load of ag-lime to the infield playing surface and the use of a skid loader for drilling holes and cleaning up rock and miscellaneous off the field. Duane Finger of Finger Electric and Repair donated his time, equipment and materials as he trenched in the conduit for the scoreboard. Dave Geislinger of Geislinger Construction & Home Repair has been instrumental in planning and guiding us with the construction, using his laser to shoot grade and his opinion on how the fence should be built. All the labor has been done by the Express baseball team. |
| Efforts to fund this project are as follows. Our Mothers Day Dinner at the Playland Ballroom every May. We also received help from the Kimball Fire Department as we combined efforts in a spring fishing raffle and meat raffle, both are very successful. The Kimball Sports Boosters and KimballHigh School also donated toward the efforts as the High School Baseball Team will be benefiting from the project as well. The Express teamed up with the Kimball Sports Boosters in February refereeing the boys and girls 5th & 6th grade basketball tournaments. The Express players volunteered their time refereeing with all the money earned going towards the field. |
| Upcoming fundraisers will be our annual Mother?s Day Dinner at the Playland Ballroom. Tickets for the spring fishing raffle will begin being sold in the near future, and we will be selling advertisement space for on the outfield wall to Kimball business owners and surrounding community business owners to help us fund our ongoing renovation. Anyone interested in buying advertising space please call Tom Marquardt at 398-6731 for more details. |
| We hope the community can start to paint a picture of what it is we are trying to accomplish with the field renovation. With the combined efforts of everyone the completion of this project will soon become reality. Completing the project brings opportunity for the city of Kimball. A nice field brings bigger events to the community, high school playoffs, amateur tournaments and possible amateur regional tournaments along with youth programs becoming re-energized with youngsters wanting to play on a beautiful field someday. All of these things benefit the city on one level or another. Baseball has always been in Kimball, why not use it to build community pride. |
| For more info on the Express visit our team website at: www.oocities.org/xpressbaseball or go to the Tri-County News website and click on the Express Link. |
| Kimball Express Baseball |
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