How Columbia, South Dakota is getting a new youth baseball field
, 2022-07-31 05:04:10,
Columbia will have a new youth baseball field next year.
A contribution from Clayton and Dean Buntrock is paying for the new field, as well a park just across the street.
The old baseball field was along the James River and flooded out several years ago.
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The Buntrock brothers were born and raised in Columbia. Clayton died in 2021. Dean no longer lives in Columbia, but has remained active in the community. His father, Rudy, served as town mayor.
Terry Birck, a friend of the family’s who is overseeing the development of the baseball field and park, said work should be completed this fall.
Talk about new baseball field started in 2021
Columbia Baseball Committee Member Josh Larson said work started June 10, but discussion about a new baseball field started in spring 2021. Larson said that’s when a committee was formed to talk about development of the field.
The diamond and park are being developed on lots north of the existing field, which was on land that regularly flooded. That field was built in the 1930s, Birck said. Because of flooding, it hasn’t been used since 2017, Larson said.
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Larson is one of five people on the Columbia Baseball Committee. As they explored relocation options and a potential design, he said he reached out to Dean Buntrock, his grandmother’s first cousin. Buntrock had previously invested in the community by way of a columbarium in the Columbia cemetery, so Larson pitched the baseball field idea.
‘Dean always has bigger thoughts’
Buntrock called back the next day and soon planned a trip to Columbia to look at possible sites.
“He said, ‘I’m going to do this project,'” Larson said. “What he’s done is incredible.”
The plan to establish a replacement field for youth baseball was soon expanded to include a park.
“Dean always has bigger thoughts,” Larson said.
Park will include basketball, pickleball courts; three disc golf holes
Birck said a “first-rate youth ballpark” is in the works. Once work on the field and park is finished, he said, they will be gifted to the town.
The park will include many trees, a series of walking trails, bathrooms, a three-hole disc golf course, a basketball half-court and a pavilion, according to project designs. Larson said it will also have a pickleball court.
The youth ballfield complex will include a concession…
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