Some of the more shocking and devastating pictures from the recent flooding of Abbotsford were from the home of the Abbotsford Cardinals - DeLair Park.
The entire diamond and training facility were completely underwater for several days, damaging the field but also completely destroying the Premier British Columbia Baseball League team’s equipment and storage building.
The costs amounted to over $100,000 and the Cardinals launched a GoFundMe to re-purchase new turf, pitching machines, batting cages, pitching mounds, baseballs, protective screens and nets, and other related items.
RELATED: Abbotsford Cardinals launch GoFundMe after devastating damage from flood
Here’s DeLair Park - home of the @AbbyCardinals - from this morning. Devastating #abbotsford pic.twitter.com/skC0Unjpkf
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) November 16, 2021
However, the sting of those losses was a little blunted after news released on Wednesday (Dec. 15).
The B.C. Pavilion Corporation is in the process of upgrading turf at BC Place and announced that they will be donating a portion of the used artificial turf being removed at the stadium to the Cardinals
FieldTurf and Beyond The Turf are providing skilled turf installers, equipment and materials, and Binnie is providing engineering services, project coordination, and labour, to complete the professional installation of the turf. The installation of the new turf at the Abbotsford Cardinals baseball facility is scheduled to begin in late-January.
NEWS: Revitalized artificial turf playing surface coming to BC Place
— BC Place (@bcplace) December 16, 2021
PavCo donates used turf to the @AbbyCardinals, helping rebuild the community baseball facility devastated by flooding in the Fraser Valley
📰: https://t.co/QCAvd6jkk8 pic.twitter.com/0xdwQUVzPP
“With great gratitude the Abbotsford Cardinals want to thank PavCo, Binnie, Beyond The Turf, FieldTurf, and all those that reached out to our organization to initiate this opportunity to be the recipients of the turf from BC Place,” stated Cardinals general manager Shawn Besse. “We feel very fortunate to receive this donation as it is a key component for the rebuild of our facility. The Abbotsford Cardinals facility is crucial across our entire baseball community as it is utilized for various events from BC Summer Games, Blue Jay training Camps, Summer Camps, PBL Provincial Playoffs and much more.
We are grateful that our student athletes are getting such support as this will allow our current grade twelves to get back to their home field and focusing on their University/College Baseball scholarship portfolios and applications, as this is our major goal and with great success, for our baseball community. “
The facility is also home to the Yale Baseball Academy and 9 Innings Baseball – a local business that provides baseball training to youth aged six to 13. All of those groups will now reap the benefits of the new turf.
We are also very pleased to know the used artificial turf will have a second life at the Abbotsford Cardinals baseball facility, helping this community get back on its feet after it was devastated by recent flooding,” stated PavCo president and CEO Ken Cretney.
For more on the news, visit bcplace.com/news/2021-12-15/revitalized-artificial-turf-playing-surface-coming.