Big upgrades at Alexandria baseball and softball facilities are being proposed.

The parks that are planned to be improved are Knute Nelson Memorial Park, Dean Melton/Fillmore Park, and 14 school district fields, including the Alexandria High School Softball Complex.

The work is proposed to take place from this fall to the spring of 2025.

“We've talked a long time about improving our facilities here in Alex, and I think it comes from people going to lots of other places and saying, ‘Wow! Why can't we have this in Alexandria?”’ said Judy Backhaus, who is part of the Alexandria Youth Baseball Association that's doing the fundraising. “So we put together a group of over 40 people from the tech school, the softball program, amateur teams, AYBA, the city and the school district, and we did a strategic plan.”

At the forefront of the strategic plan are proposed upgrades to area facilities that the group believes would positively impact the community.

“We’re constantly going to our businesses asking for donations so that we can raise money, and this plan to me feels like we're giving back to those businesses,” Backhaus said. “We're going to bring people in that will buy things at businesses, and that will help them as well as help us.”

The AYBA’s slogan for this improvement plan is “Let’s Hit A Home Run.” It aims to bring more business to the community with the ability to host multiple events at a larger level.

“It's going to fill up more hotel rooms, gas stations and food places,” Backhaus said. “We’ll also raise money through concessions and gates. The more tournaments we can host, the better we can do operationally, the more we can do.”

Throughout this process, the planning group has adopted the slogan from the movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.”

Backhaus and Jake Munsch, the AYBA Executive Director and Alexandria Area High School baseball coach, said the long-term vision is to have facilities that improve the baseball and softball experience in Alexandria, but could also be used for additional events outside of sports.

“The overall goal of this is for everyone coming into Alexandria to benefit from it,” Munsch said.

Included in the plan to upgrade Knute Nelson Memorial Park is:

Alexandria Mayor Bobbie Osterberg said she is excited to see how the proposed upgrades could impact the number of people and type of events the park could draw to Alexandria.

“The more people that get to use the facility, the more value the facility has to this community,” Osterberg said. “I want people going in and out of those fields of course.”

Munsch said that improving Knute Nelson Memorial Park, which was opened in 1938 and renovated in 1967, is the main focus right now.

“It’s important to note that this isn't just about one age level. It's about improving the facilities for all groups in Alexandria,” Munsch said. “There's a process right now of putting in irrigation at Fillmore Park, improving those dugouts and building the concession stands at the softball complex at the high school. The school district is investing a lot of money in the Diamond Doctor (an athletic field restoration company) to ensure that our fields there have been approved and safe to play on.”

Munsch said infield turf replacement is a primary focus at Knute Nelson Memorial Park.

Chris Bennes, who owns Diamond Doctor in Glenwood, works on softball and baseball fields around the state. He said that of the 16 fields that he’s worked on, many were in dire need of repairs.

“I just have a business that has probably been going for the last 15 to 20 years and I renovate fields around the state that need it,” Bennes said. “We went through the process here, probably a year and a half ago.”

With the upgrades, the group outlined what Alexandria could host in the community. They include but are not limited to:

Osterberg is proud that this proposal is a citizen-led initiative. “The project really has been a citizen-led initiative in that the youth baseball association came to the city and said, ‘Hey, we would like to see some improvements at some of the fields,’’’ Osterberg said. “The youth baseball association has been very engaged with our community over the years….They are not coming to the city and asking us to fund all kinds of improvements. They are being very active in fundraising, and creating a partnership where the city will do things that the city should be responsible for and the youth baseball association will take on some other efforts that make the fields where they would like to see them.”

One of the biggest improvements the group hopes to work on is upgrading the bathrooms at the facilities.

“One of the biggest complaints we hear about are the bathrooms,” Backhaus said.

Munsch said there is a big need for nicer bathrooms at local facilities such as Knute Nelson Memorial Park and the Alexandria High School Softball Complex.

Osterberg said she does see a need for improvements.

“The facilities improvements themselves, I think they're probably long overdue,” Osterberg said. “And if it's something that can keep softball and baseball tournaments in Alexandria, and keep the program strong, to me those are the benefits of taking on a huge project like this.”

The hope is to draw in more community events and become a baseball and softball “regional site.”

“We want to be up to date with our facilities, and we want to be a destination point,” Munsch said. “I think when this is all said and done, the biggest thing people will notice is we're not going to be traveling. We're going to be here. People are going to come to us instead of us traveling to them.

“A good way to look at how it works is when we were at Jefferson (High School) and we had a football field during the section tournaments or playoffs, that field was unused,” Munsch continued. “Now that we have that beautiful facility (at AAHS), even when we're out of town, they’re hosting section soccer games or hosting section football games that are generating dollars for the school district because we have the facility to do it. We would be able to do the same thing. So it would become the regional site for especially the 2A schools around here to come here to play their section tournament at that park, just like the MAC does in St. Cloud. It's a lot of money coming in in a hurry.”

Todd Johnson, who is the recreation coordinator for Alexandria Public Schools, says bringing in tournaments will directly boost the local economy.

“It’s pretty clean cut; when you bring in these teams, they're staying in a hotel, eating at restaurants. They’re shopping in our stores, so the economic impact is direct,” Johnson said. “We have a beautiful community. Sometimes it’s tougher for others to come up here, but if you have outstanding facilities and the word of mouth gets out that there are top-notch facilities, more of these teams are apt to pick this as one of their destinations for a tournament in the summer.”

At Fillmore Park and other school district fields, the proposed upgrades include concession stands with bathrooms and storage areas, improved dugouts, enlarged and improved seating/fan areas, continued maintenance of all fields to ensure safety and improved quality, improving and/or adding scoreboards, and having outdoor batting cages.

As a long-term goal, the AYBA would like to develop a domed facility that could be used by outdoor athletes in the winter.

“The community is in need of a space where kids can work out during the wintertime,” Munsch said. “We want an indoor dome facility that incorporates all lifestyles in the community, whether that's pickleball or tennis, golf, football, soccer, etc. The question we have is whether or not that would be something we put on district property or private property or if the district builds one.”

This planning group wants Knute Nelson Memorial Park to continue to draw baseball spectators and those interested in events such as the Habitat for Humanity’s major fundraiser, concerts, movie nights, the Alexandria Craft Beer Tour and more.

“The goals that the youth baseball association has and I think that the city council have in mind are just some really needed actual facility upgrades,” Osterberg said. “We need some work in the locker rooms at Knute Nelson, they need to be more usable. Some of the seating needs to be changed, the scoreboard needs to be updated and things like that. If you’re a regular at any of those facilities, you're just going to notice (the upgrades) immediately. And if you're not a regular, it's probably something that you would expect to find at that type of facility in a community of our size. There's going to be a bunch of improvements in this community, and it is going to be, I hate to use the word awesome, but it is.”

The group says Knute Nelson Memorial Park is the perfect venue for people looking to hold events of up to 2,500 people.

A big thing that will impact the plans is fundraising and a potential half-cent sales tax that the group hopes will be approved by voters in the 2024 general election.

“For taxpayers, if the city moves forward with the half-cent sales tax, people in Alexandria will pay half a cent more for anything they buy that's taxable,” Backhaus said. “For example, if you buy a $100 vacuum cleaner, you'll pay 50 cents more. If you buy a $40,000 truck, you'll be paying $200 more. I think the key is that 40 percent of the sales tax will be paid by people coming into our community.”

Munsch estimates that about 90% of the communities they’ve seen have these upgrades because of a half-cent sales tax.

“We’ve had huge conversations about how other communities get this done, because they do the half-cent sales tax,” Backhaus said. “So we've been talking to the city about that (for) 2024….With a half-cent sales tax, we can get some of these bigger items like a complex and a bubble. And the city can add other things on to that; whatever they determine.”

In May of 2022, the AYBA received a $15,000 grant from the Minnesota Twins Community Fund that will be used to improve the athletic fields. This is one of the many things that parties involved in this project say they are doing for fundraising.

“We're doing a combination of things,” Backhaus said. “We are doing pull tabs. They're located at Long Trees, Boulder Tap House and Copper Trail, and so that will all go to the facilities. Then we're doing the paver project, and we're also doing individual donors. We’ll also do advertising, either on the outfield signs or the new scoreboard. They can advertise on the video screen there.”

Backhaus has also submitted a grant application to the Alexandria Community Fund for $30,000 for turf, and she’s in the process of applying for another turf grant.

The paver project would honor current and former players who have played at Knute Nelson Park. They can buy a brick and get their name engraved on it, along with a small message.

The pavers will be displayed on a baseball players’ “Walk of Fame” in 2024.

There is also an option for friends, family, parents, administrators, community leaders and alumni to purchase a brick in honor of a friend, memorial, show of support, or a recognition of an event or person. These bricks would be displayed in a path to the stadium called the “Friends of Alexandria Baseball.”

Backhaus said that they’ve been doing a “round up” option at Elden’s Fresh Foods where customers can run up their purchase price of groceries to the nearest dollar, and then those funds go towards helping to build concession stands.

The AYBA has also laid out some different “giving levels.”

At its July 25 meeting, the city council unanimously voted to support the AYBA fundraising efforts with the stipulation that the name Knute Nelson Memorial Park remains.

The AYBA has a rough estimate of when works could be done or funded at Knute Nelson and the Alexandria Softball complex, while Fillmore Park work is still waiting for the park's study to conclude.

Phase I: “The Opening Pitch” – fall 2022 (numbers are rough estimates)

Phase II: “The Middle Innings” – summer/fall 2023

Fillmore Park - TBD School District - TBD

Phase III: “The 7th Inning Stretch” – 2024

Fillmore Park - TBD School District - TBD

Phase IV: Spring 2025: “The Bottom of the 9th”

Knute Nelson Park, final items - TBD

There is also now a Stage V in the works, which will “include the purchase of a staging system and pursuing buying property parcels near the stadium to allow for ample parking for these large events.”

Munsch and Backhaus said that these renovation plans have been discussed for years but that the plans to implement them weren’t seriously discussed until about a year ago.

The group said that there's a study group that is also working with the City of Alexandria on "a study of all of the parks and recreation areas across the City of Alexandria to determine future needs. The City has hired a company to do this study and they will begin their work in the near future."

The group also added that, “It is the goal of our group that two items important to us will be placed on the 2024 general election ballot; A baseball/softball complex and a ‘dome’ or ‘bubble’ for athletes of outdoor sports to use during our winter months (soccer, football, tennis, baseball, softball, archery, etc.).”

Munsch and Backhaus expressed optimism about the plan coming to fruition.

“I think we have a city council that is very aware that all these other communities are doing it and that if we don't jump on that bandwagon, we aren't going to be a regional site, which hurts all of us,” Backhaus said. “And then we just keep traveling and spending money instead of bringing in money.”

Munsch said that communication from many parties has been great.

“I'm excited just about the communication that's been passed along through the city, school district and us,” Munch said. “It seems like there are just a lot of people who are in agreement of the needs. And for a long time, it was a lot of talk about the problems and no solutions. And now we seem to be getting someplace with solutions, and we understand it's going to take time, but I'm proud of the fact that there's a lot of entities that are working together for the best interest of Alexandria.”