Kraft Celebration Tour Upgrades Complete in Wallaceburg

Two years after the Kraft Celebration Tour awarded Wallaceburg Minor Lacrosse with a check for $25,000, their renovations are complete, and the organization has unveiled upgraded playing surfaces at Glen Mickle Park in Wallaceburg.

Improvements to the park include adding turf to the tennis court playing surfaces for lacrosse, adding basketball nets, extending fencing, and repainting surrounding benches.

“The new courts will give the community a new updated court to play on, and young lacrosse players a place where they can spend countless hours perfecting their craft at no cost,” said Wallaceburg Minor Lacrosse president Chris Dawson about the project.

In recent years, Wallaceburg has developed not only a strong box lacrosse, and Junior program, but are also now growing a field lacrosse program, something Dawson hopes will continue to improve with the help of the new facility.

“With the addition of field lacrosse to Wallaceburg this year it is yet another stepping stone in the program and it allows a small community to compete all across Ontario with much larger communities,” says Dawson. “It has demonstrated the power of three organizations that previously worked separately to come together for the greater good of the game and the community. The Wallaceburg Red Devils, Box Lacrosse and Field Lacrosse have worked together for the past three years to build a fantastic program that continues to grow. It allows project like this to take place, to provide education for our coaches and most importantly a great environment for the kids to have fun and learn.”

The project, which at the time features a live broadcast from TSN, and the Kraft Celebration Tour, was originally slated for the tennis courts behind Wallaceburg District Secondary School, but in order to access Municipal funds, the project was shifted to Glen Mickle Park.

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent contributed approximately $60,000 to the project from their budget to top up what the organization contributed from their Kraft Celebration Tour award.

Some improvements, including netting around the fences to catch balls, will also be done to the WDSS location, which was originally earmarked for the money.

The official opening of the courts will be August 24th at Wallaceburg Minor Lacrosse’s year end banquet, which will be held on the new courts. The courts will be appropriately named “Kings Courts” after the late Gerry King who passed this year and was instrumental in the sustainability and growth of Wallaceburg Lacrosse.