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City of Kahlotus – Hardersburg T-ball Park
PROJECT SUMMARY
Kahlotus, Washington is a very small town somewhere between The Columbia Basin, The Blue Mountains and The Palouse. This tiny community is anything but tiny in heart and dedication when in comes to lending your neighbor a helping hand and building better lives for the children of our community. In The spring of 2001, as the temperatures warmed and the Little Leaguers began their practices for the upcoming season, coaches were facing the same problem that they had faced in past years. Who gets the field? Between the High School baseball and softball teams and three different Little League teams with children ranging between 5 and 12, the youngest kids, the T-ball team, always seemed to be the ones to practice in the far reaches of the outfield with throw down bases and nothing more than a human backstop to keep the overthrown baseballs from rolling all the way to Pasco. Something needed to be done.
Fortunately some of the wheels in the community were already turning. A generous community member offered to give The City of Kahlotus 5 large lots to make a park. The only problem being, there was a condemned building on the property in need of demolition. This would require money and that was something the City did not have in abundance.
Through a process of pulling strings and asking for favors the Kahlotus Public Works Dept. had the use of large loader for a few hours. We didn't waste any time in getting rid of that old building. That part was easy, but now came cleaning up the mess. After burning much of the debris, we hired a contractor at a very reduced rate to bury the remains of the building and grade the property to a somewhat level surface.
We now had something to work with and it was at this time that the idea of a T-Ball field started taking shape. The City approached the adjacent landowners about using a portion of their connecting vacant lots as part of the outfield to give us enough room to fit a regulation sized T-ball field onto the property. We were lacking approximately 30 ft in right field and 20 ft n center field. The landowners were gracious enough to let us use this area.
Now we just had to build it! Kahlotus has a limited Public Works Dept. In fact, the Public Works Dept. consists of one full time employee. Now was the time for community involvement. Community members started helping by raking the ground to get all of the small pieces of glass, metal, rocks and sticks and anything else that might have been a hazard off of the surface of the eventual field. We filled sinkholes and did even more leveling. One community member had access to a tractor and a seeder to get the grass started, this was done at cost with the grass seed being donated. The local Lions Club generously donated a backstop that was installed by yet some other community members that had experience in chain link installation. So there it was, a flat, bare lot with a backstop. Oh wait, we need water. The Public Works Dept. designed and installed an irrigation system, with a timer and in the spring of 2002 the grass started to grow. After a year of hard work and dedication it was actually starting to look like a ball field.
Even though the field was constructed it was still quite a ways from its first T-Ball game. During the next year the grass was pampered with lots of water and fertilizer. The bases, home plate and the pitcher rubber were installed.
By April Of 2003 the field was ready for it's first game but it still needed a name. The project started with generous land donation from Mr. William G. Harder. Mr. Harder's family had first homesteaded the land surrounding the Town now known as Kahlotus in 1883. The town was originally called Hardersburg. Thusly, the name Hardersburg Park was fitting as a tribute to the Harder Family. A community member donated a piece of redwood for a sign and some members of the Kahlotus High School's wood shop class painted and stained the HARDERSBLJRG PARK sign.
Today, the ball field gets mowed every week, the lines are painted before every game and Preschoolers, Kindergartners, 1st and 2nd graders are all able to enjoy the sport of baseball, the accomplishments of teamwork and exhilaration of competition as they fly around the bases Searching for the safety of home plate. All of which has been made possible by the commitment and dedication of several individuals and organizations within our community, all working together at making Kahlotus a great place to live and an even better place to raise our children.
Total cost of grading ......................$ 1700.00
Total cost of Backstop ...................$ 825.00
Total cost of Irrigation System ...... $ 1200.00
The overflowing joy you see in your child's eyes as they round third,.....Priceless.
Submitted by:
Richard P. Lee
Public Works Supt. City of Kahlotus
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