After a couple weeks of spring-like temperatures and a couple days of rain, the greening of the city's sports fields is becoming prevalent.
Golf courses are open, but for the many sports user groups waiting to get on city fields the gates are still closed. However, the end is in sight. By this time next week those fields will be busy again for the first time since the outdoor seasons ended in October.
"With the fields it's a little tricky because we've had a longer-than-normal winter and then we've had instant summer as far as weather goes, so everyone's itching to get on," said Chris Bjorn, the city's supervisor of parks.
"We have our turf and irrigation staff analyze each field every couple days because if we get on too early we're going to do some damage to the turf, which is hard to repair. The turf is looking good because of the snow cover from the winter. It's actually protected it very well so there's been no frost damage and winter kill that we often get.
"What it comes down to is root growth in the turf itself. Thatching and aerating help, and we've already started that process on the (Prince George Youth Soccer) fields, but we have so many fields it takes a few weeks to get them all done."
Bjorn said the sand-based fields used by youth soccer and the adult soccer leagues require the most maintenance because they are designed to drain away moisture and are more dependent on irrigation systems.
The city usually announces an opening day for the fields which applies to all the fields, but because of the late start to the season some fields in the bowl area of the city are closer to being ready than those in the Hart Highway area, simply because they receive less snowfall and what does fall melts a few weeks earlier.
By midweek next week, Bjorn says he will be able to provide a more accurate timeline for user groups when they can start playing on outdoor fields. That means high school soccer and rugby teams, Prince George Youth Baseball, Prince George Youth Soccer, North Cariboo Senior Soccer, Spruce City Minor Boys Softball, Prince George Minor Girls Softball and the Prince George Gnats rugby team will soon be able to start playing outside.
That's good news for the traveling teams in those organizations which compete provincially against teams in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, where winter rarely gets snowy enough to close sports fields for extended periods and teams play seasons that are months longer than in northern regions. Local teams have had to make do playing indoors at school gyms, the Prince George Dome, Winnipeg Street Indoor Soccer Centre and the Northern Sport Centre.
Sunshine and warm temperatures are in the forecast for the next week and Bjorn says there's a good chance teams will be playing outdoors by next weekend.
"This last week has been really excellent, they've really turned around quite a bit," said Bjorn. "Volunteer (Field) will be one of the last to open because it's up in the Hart, but Freeman Park, where there's three ball fields, might be open midweek (next week). They get a lot of heat there."
For the Prince George Track and Field Club, the wait for the reconstruction of Masich Place Stadium continues. The $4.375-million project to install a synthetic turf field and rubberized running track and rebuild the jumping and throwing areas won't likely be complete until at least mid-June. Until then, that means the club will have to use the old Lakewood running track and field area behind Lac des Bois school.
The track at Masich has been finished but the rubber compound for the jump pits still needs to be poured, which requires a warm enough nighttime temperature.
"We were originally targeting June 1 for an opening date and that would be amazing if that happened but I won't be surprised if it's postponed a couple weeks," said Bjorn.
The field still needs to be painted with lines for a 110-yard Canadian football field, to be used for games in the Prince George Minor Football Association and the B.C. High School Football Association Northern Conference. The stadium will also be the new home of UNBC's men's and women's Timberwolves soccer teams with the first games scheduled for Aug. 24-25.
The stadium, which will host the opening ceremony for the 2022 B.C. Summer Games, used to be open to walkers who used the track to exercise whenever it suited their schedules. But when it finally reopens the facility will be staffed by city employees and will only be open to the public when staff are on site. The city plans to soon release its schedule of operating hours. It will be available for private bookings.
