County Sports Grant to Help Fund New Soccer Field at FAIR School Park
Several parks in the northwest suburbs will receive some significant upgrades thanks to a new round of Hennepin County Youth Sports Grants awarded this week.
One park that’s going to benefit during this latest round of funding is the Fair School Park in Crystal, which is getting a new soccer field.
“We’re excited about the project at Fair School Park because soccer is one of those sports that we don’t have enough space for,” said John Elholm, Crystal’s park and recreation director. “The school wants to do a competitive after-school soccer program and they don’t really have a good enough field. Plus during the summer, we have a lot of soccer field use and we don’t really have enough fields to meet the demand.”
Hennepin County is awarding an $80,000 youth sports grant to help fund the new soccer field at the Fair School Park. The city of Crystal will kick in another $30,000.
Construction will begin this summer, and the hope is that kids can begin using the new field in 2023.
A design rendering of the soccer field at the Fair School Park in Crystal.
The Hennepin County Youth Sports Grant program has been in place since 2009, with money being raised from the sales tax that paid for the Minnesota Twins’ stadium. Since the youth sports grant program began, Hennepin County has awarded more than $29 million to help fund facilities, playgrounds and equipment needs.
“The economic impact of this program has really created huge inroads,” said Thomas Rupp, Hennepin County’s youth activities program manager. “It’s helped health throughout all of our communities, and it’s created real opportunities to reduce disparities, help smaller organizations.”
Other local grant recipients
Meanwhile, Robbinsdale received $22,500 to make improvements to the Lee Park Building and make it more ADA accessible. The city also received another grant to fund equipment for kids in the Armstrong Fast Pitch Softball Association.
The New Hope Ice Arena received money to improve safety and training for participants of its dance program.
The city of Crystal also received another grant to help pay for soccer goals and netting at Welcome Park.
