Thanks to an amazing outpouring of support on Sunday from as many as 200 volunteers of all ages from ZLL families and the Zionsville community in general, we were able to clean up tons of flood debris from the park, rebuild outfield fences, and clean mud and silt from dugouts. The families and friends of Zionsville Little League have shown once again that our all-volunteer organization knows how to hit a home run when it matters most. A very special thanks goes out to Boone County Resource Recovery who provided a large trash collection bin for all the debris. The clean up would have been significantly more difficult without it.
As a result of the turnout we had on Sunday, the cleanup for Monday April 22 has been cancelled. The fields, however, remain closed to practices and games. They need more time to dry out before they can be prepped for activity.
Likewise, we will not be distributing Opening Night t-shirts or uniform items at the park on Monday.
Our plans for the rest of the week remain in progress. While getting the park cleaned up has provided a strong visible sign that we are close to resuming games and practices, the underlying services in the Park are not ready. Of primary importance is the electrical system in the park. Some of the electrical equipment that control lights, scoreboards, and other amenities in the park were submerged in the flood. All the electrical systems must be inspected, and we expect we will need costly replacements for some equipment. We will not resume games until we are assured the electrical system in the park is safe and reliable.
Despite the preparations made before the flood, the interior of our concession stand was significantly damaged: all equipment that was not moved to the second floor of the building was destroyed. We are working closely with our concession stand operator to determine when concessions will be available again. The concession stand is an important aspect of our League. It’s part of the fun of playing at Lions’ Park, and it is a revenue source for the league. All of us hope that it will be operating again shortly.
These are some of the higher profile and expensive aspects of running the park that must be checked and approved before we can resume games. No doubt Sunday’s cleanup effort was a huge step forward, but we still have some work to do.
We will have our Opening Night Ceremony on Friday April 26. If things continue to progress well, we may be able to have games and practices before Opening Night, but for now, anticipate everything will be on a day-to-day basis. Stay tuned for more communications. We ask for your patience as we restore the park. We’ll be playing baseball and softball again soon!
The Zionsville Little League Board of Directors.