Bill Lynch: How Field of Dreams became reality

Twenty-two years ago this April, the Sonoma Valley Field of Dreams opened. The seven-acre sports field/park located on city land behind the police station was just a dusty expanse of star thistles and weeds until a group of Sonomans, led by Gary Nelson and Bob Stone, made it a reality.|

Twenty-two years ago this April, the Sonoma Valley Field of Dreams opened. The seven-acre sports field/park located on city land behind the police station was just a dusty expanse of star thistles and weeds until a group of Sonomans, led by Gary Nelson and Bob Stone, made it a reality.

It all started with Dottie, my wife, who was the president of the Sonoma Valley Babe Ruth League at the time. Practice fields for youth baseball were in very short supply.

Dottie noticed the open space behind the police station and wondered if it could be used for practice fields.

'I was thinking that we could mow the weeds, build some make-shift backstops and draw some base lines and at least teams would have someplace to have practices,' Dottie said at the time.

She persuaded me to set up a meeting with Sonoma Mayor Henry Riboni, which I did. She gave Henry her pitch and he said OK.

But, as soon as we started talking to the coaches and others involved with youth recreation, it became apparent that just mowing the weeds and building some makeshift backstops wasn't going to be nearly enough. The site wasn't level. It was little more than a cow pasture and had all kinds of dips and holes. It was also rocky as heck.

Very quickly the discussion moved from creating a rough, makeshift practice area, to building a full-blown, turfed and irrigated field complex with properly constructed fixtures like backstops.

The Sonoma Valley Youth Soccer League had the same need of practice space as Babe Ruth baseball. So did the girls softball league. The Boys and Girls Club also had an interest in the project.

The best thing we ever did was get Gary and Bob to lead the fundraising effort. Our committee grew and included Fran Meininger, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club and, probably most important, my lifelong friend Les Peterson, of Peterson Mechanical. It was Les who not only took the lead in developing all of the infrastructure, including upgrading the well, irrigation, etc., but he was also our best contact for others in the building trades who donated a great deal of the necessary labor to complete the job.

After John Serres leveled the land for us, donating a great portion of his time and labor, all of us got involved in clearing rocks off the dirt and getting the irrigation pipes put in.

We got some major cash donations from Bob's foundation as well as from Mary Fazzio, of Mary's Pizza. More than a thousand local folks chipped in with money, labor and in-kind donations.

The city agreed to lease us the land for a dollar a year. It was a wonderful example of how a well-organized, all-volunteer effort can achieve incredible results. Since its completion in 1994, additional amenities and improvements have been made, and the field provides recreation for hundreds of youths in our community and as a site for other community events, like the music festival.

Today, it is managed and maintained by an all-volunteer board representing users groups who raise the necessary funds and oversee the field upkeep.

It is a real dream come true.

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