WATERLOO, Iowa — A grand opening of the Riverfront Sports Park — a public celebration of 20 months, nearly $1 million, hundreds of hours of labor, and dozens of dedicated individuals to renovate the complex’s eight fields — will be 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Field 2 at Riverfront Sports Park, Park Road and Burton Avenue.
Among those attending will be Mayor Buck Clark, Tim Hurley of the Black Hawk County Gaming Association, Bob Hellman of Build Our Ballpark and Mark Gallagher of Waterloo Leisure Services.
The Union Missionary Baptist Church Crusaders Drill Team will perform, Heather Newman will sing the national anthem, and baseball and softball games will be played on six fields.
Created in 2008, Build Our Ballpark was the vision of Bob Hellman Sr., the founder and chairman of the board of a Waterloo ad agency. The organization is committed to providing the assistance and rallying the support needed to build new ballparks and improve existing ballparks to ensure kids have a quality place to play.
In 2011, Build Our Ballpark and Waterloo Leisure Services began working toward the renovation of Riverfront Sports Park’s eight fields, sidewalks, buildings and equipment.