WINDOM -- It’s the end of an era, the beginning of another in Windom.
For as long as anyone can remember, the Island Park baseball/football complex has been a pleasure to behold, especially in the summer. As millions of motorists drove into Windom on Highway 60, they instinctively looked left and saw the ballpark, with its immaculately manicured grass, its well-kept infield, and its outfield fence coated with painted signs representing local businesses.
All of that is gone now, destroyed by a mid-summer flooding of the adjacent Des Moines River brought on by a week of incessant rain. It forced the Windom Pirates amateur baseball games to be played elsewhere, and now just prior to the beginning of the high school football season it will mean the Windom Area Eagles’ games will be played on the road, too.
“It definitely has been a little emotional,” said WAHS athletic director Dane Nielsen, who grew up playing at Island Park and who currently plays ball for the Pirates.
This summer’s flooding is considered the second-worst in Windom history, next to the flooding of 1969. It was so bad this year, that work is under way to put a whole new face on the Island Park facility -- one that will provide a unique vision for area residents and motorists passing through town.
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In the long run, the field will be better able to hold up to flooding. But it will take some getting used to, as well.
The re-do of the playing surface has already begun, and the fencing has also been taken down. The wooden fence and the signage won’t be coming back; instead, there will be a permanent chain link fence installed.
“It’s very, very difficult to see that change,” Nielsen said. “That’s been a big part of our lives here in Windom, that fence and that advertising.”
Chain link fencing, however, will ensure that the wood rot that threatened the original fencing during the wet season will no longer be an issue. It took a lot of work to keep up the original fencing, too, with signs continually needing to be updated. Also, some of the signage advertised businesses that are no longer open.
Nielsen said some federal aid may be coming for the Island Park work, and Windom schools could come up with additional funds, as well.
On the field itself, a new irrigation system will be installed. There will be new seed in the outfield and new sod in the infield. Some of the dips and humps that have remained over the years will be smoothed over.
Football practices for the 2018 campaign will continue to take place at the three high school practice fields. Junior high and lower level football games will be played there, but the varsity team will be road warriors throughout the season.
The first regular season varsity game is a home game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, and it will be played in St. James. The Saints were supposed to host their season opener on Friday, Aug. 31, but they cordially moved it to Aug. 30, to accommodate the Eagles.
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“I cannot say enough about St. James,” Nielsen said.
Windom Area’s second game is a home game as well, against Pipestone Area. That game will need to be relocated, too, perhaps to Marshall.
Nielsen said it wasn’t easy to watch the Island Park fencing get taken down on Monday. Progress doesn’t happen without a price.
“To see that get taken down, that’s tough. The guys love playing baseball down there,” he explained. “I’m just reminding myself, and others, that it is going to bounce back and will be better than ever.”
