Cornwall hopes its new turf sports field 'opens a lot of doors' for the town

Renovations underway at the Terry Fox Sports Complex in Cornwall, P.E.I., could be a game changer for the town and the province, officials say.

The town is laying down new turf on its main football field, and extending it into the end zones, which used to be grass. Crews are also expanding the size of the field and doing significant drainage work. New scoreboards were added earlier this year.

Coun. Cory Stevenson, Cornwall's parks and recreation chair, said the improvements will make the field a huge asset to the town.

"We're a state-of-the-art facility here in Prince Edward Island and the envy of many facilities across Atlantic Canada and Canada," he said. "So, that will hopefully attract different groups and tournaments of all sports and organizations. It will have a huge economic and social impact to our town."

Stevenson said the field sees a lot of use by community, and the turf had been worn down a bit. He said a new playing surface will help prevent injuries.

"It was time due to safety reasons," he said. "We outlived the turf that was here." 

A number of groups also use the field in the evenings throughout the week, including the Cornwall Timberwolves and Holland College Hurricanes football teams. The field also sees a lot of action from local elementary schools during gym classes and at the end of the school day.

"It's very busy. Every night of the week these fields have bookings from our community organizations," Stevenson said.

Stephen Letner, president of Football P.E.I. and head coach of the Cornwall Timberwolves, sees first hand just how busy the field is every day and night. He said the changes will make a huge difference for players' needs.

"We're super excited. I know a lot of other people are too," he said. "From a Football P.E.I. perspective, it opens up a lot of doors for us to be able to use and promote. And we do a lot of coaching clinics, so to have something like this to use for those types of things, it's going to be really awesome."

Once the new field is ready, Letner said Football P.E.I. will be able to put its name in to host more national events like flag and tackle championships and the Atlantic Bowl tournament, which the UPEI hosted in July.

The Canadian Football League-sized field can also host Touchdown Atlantic games, the annual series run by the CFL that sees regular season games played in the Maritimes. 

"I think sometimes we might get overlooked nationally, but to have a field like this that can not only host national football events but can host national soccer events, rugby and all kind of things," Letner said.

"It's just going to take us to the next level, and the town especially."

Stevenson said Cornwall is teaming up with the province to split the cost of the $1.3-million project.

The old turf is also being made available to community groups and schools. He said anyone interested should contact the town to learn more. 

The project is expected to be completed by Aug. 23.