Limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field available Friday

Posted at 8:51 pm December 6, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

A limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field will be available to football fans during a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday afternoon.

Renovations have started at the field, which will be converted from grass to synthetic turf, possibly by the end of April.

The ceremonial groundbreaking will be hosted by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools, and it is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Friday, December 7.

“Football fans will be given the opportunity to take home a piece of sod from the field beginning at 3:30 p.m. Friday,” a press release said. A limited amount of sod will be available at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis.

Work on the field began Tuesday, November 27, following a meeting between the Oak Ridge Schools’ Maintenance Department, representatives from two City of Oak Ridge departments (Public Works and Recreation and Parks), the field turf contractor, and the excavation sub-contractor. The pre-construction meeting provided an overview of the timeframe for construction, the press release said.

The schools’ maintenance department then began the process of removing sprinkler system parts and disconnecting power to the scoreboards and time clocks. Public Works sent a crew to assist with preparation work at Blankenship, removing the perimeter fence and poles, while another Public Works crew began cleaning out storm drains at the base of the bleachers.

School maintenance crews prepared Ben Martin practice field at Oak Ridge High School to receive the grass field turf from Blankenship. Workers spent Wednesday and Thursday of last week cutting, moving, and resetting approximately two-thirds of the grass turf from Blankenship Field to Ben Martin Field, repurposing the material to make necessary repairs, the press release said.

The contractor has since delivered equipment and started the excavation process. Contractors anticipate that installation of the synthetic turf will be complete by April 30, 2019, in time for Oak Ridge High School’s graduation. Other phases of the project will follow, none of which will conflict with the graduation ceremony in May.

Background: The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation approved a $496,000 Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant in late 2017 for the purpose of renovating Blankenship Field. The Blankenship Field Revitalization Foundation is providing an equal match to the grant. The funds, totaling roughly $1 million, are being used to make a number of upgrades to the facility, including installation of synthetic turf, concrete walkways, synthetic track, new fencing, signage for the Cedar Hill Greenway trail head, and additional restrooms.

See our previous story about the Blankenship Field work here.

See our story on the contract for the work here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

Grass is being moved from Blankenship Field to Ben Martin Field at Oak Ridge High School in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

A contractor has delivered equipment and started the excavation process at Blankenship Field, which will be converted from grass to synthetic turf. Contractors anticipate that installation of the turf will be complete by April 30, 2019, in time for Oak Ridge High School’s graduation. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

If you haven't already, please consider subscribing to Oak Ridge Today. You don't have to subscribe to read most of our stories, but your subscription does provide benefits, including access to premium content. And it will help us cover local news for you day and night, as best we can. You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month. You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers:

Basic

Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.