Centene Stadium in Great Falls, Mont., is getting some new grass after 60 years.
The field project is already underway and will provide the Great Falls Voyagers of the Pioneer League a new natural grass surface to play on when opening day comes May 23 , according to MontanaSports.com.
Voyagers general manager Scott Reasoner told MontanaSports.com that the staff and the community have done a great job at keeping up the facility over the last six decades.
“Especially in the last 10 or 15 years you’ve seen a lot of private investment from the club to see the next little step of keeping baseball here and keeping this great facility up to the standards it needs to be," Reasoner said. "This was a huge project we know had to be taken on and we’re glad we are able to get it started and ready to go.”
Bringing in a new field is not only a benefit to the Voyagers but also to the American Legion program and the Great Falls community. The Voyagers' organization sees itself as a community asset.
After the 2020 season had to be skipped due to COVID-19, the organization's management saw how important it was that community members were able to interact with each other outside of work and have a place to take their families for a good time.
“We have to be as much about the community as possible,” Reasoner told MontanaSports.com. “What we really take pride in here with the Voyagers and overseeing the stadium is the community asset that it really is. We get to bring one hundred thousand people a year together in Great Falls.”
The organization, a part of the professionally independent Pioneer League, continues to find ways to accommodate its fans when they come to games. A schedule change has gone into affect for the upcoming season to change the start time for all Sunday games to 11:30 a.m. The Voyagers' front office is planning a new event at that time.
"Brunch and baseball. As far as we can see, nobody has ever tried this before,” Reasoner said. “You’ll see discounted mimosas, special breakfast items, all sorts of really fun things, and of course always having our Pepsi kids eat free Sundays."
