Kristopher Snarby, Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian, Queens MLA Kim Masland, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Olympian Sarah Mitton were among those at the official opening of the Steele Athletic Grounds in Liverpool on Wednesday. (Rick Conrad)

The South Shore’s first turf field and rubberized track officially opened in Liverpool on Wednesday with a new name and lots of community enthusiasm.

The $3.5-million facility at Liverpool Regional High School will be called the Steele Athletic Grounds after a $100,000 donation from Steele Auto Group.

Hundreds of people including Olympian Sarah Mitton, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Queens MLA Kim Masland and Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian turned out for the ribbon cutting.

The Queens County Track Society spearheaded the project that began in 2018.

“It will be a place where both youth and adults can train and dream, where teams can compete and where a community can come together to celebrate with sport and achievement,” president Kristopher Snarby told the hundreds of students and others gathered for the event.

“Today’s grand opening is more than just a ribbon cutting, it’s the start of a new chapter for recreation, health and community pride in Queens County and across the South Shore.”

Snarby thanked the many people and organizations in the community that made the track and field a reality. The federal government contributed $1.8 million, the province gave $1.2 million and the Region of Queens granted $250,000, with local donors and sponsors chipping in another $250,000.

Snarby said after the event that thanks to the 10-year agreement with Steele Auto Group, the society has about $1,000 left over to put toward future improvements like seating and security cameras.

“Most people are bringing their own chairs, but we would like to have some seating, that’s probably the next thing. The other thing are security cameras, that’s probably the top priority. We need to get security cameras up and we’re putting things in place to get that done.”

In addition to the all-weather track and soccer field, the fully lighted facility also features an area for the long and triple jumps. A new shot put circle and area have also been installed next to the high school. The complex is open to everybody in the community.

“It’s getting a lot of use, the soccer kids are loving the field,” Snarby said. “Track doesn’t start until the spring, so the track hasn’t had like a lot of training but the cross-country team does use it to train as well and just the general public using it for walking and … to have some recreation.”

Masland said she was overwhelmed to see the facility completed and open.

“To actually stand on this field today, to see the kids out there really enjoying it, just an amazing day for me,” she said in an interview. “It’s been something that’s been very close to my heart since becoming elected in 2017. Glad I could be part of the project and work with such amazing dedicated folks with the society. This is a game changer for our athletes, for our community and for our students.”

Mitton is a champion shot putter who was a high school student in Liverpool more than 10 years ago. She said the state-of-the-art facility will help young athletes excel.

Before it opened, local track and field athletes had to leave the community to train or use the bus loop around the school.

“This is such an incredible thing for the kids that go to school in this area,” Mitton told QCCR.

“Anyone in the community can use this, whether it’s for just a healthy active lifestyle, a project like this can really change the lives of many people in the community. … I learned a lot not having a facility like this, but I think like this would have eliminated a lot of barriers for me. I drove to and from Bridgewater three or four times a week as a kid once I started joining a club and to have something like this here I think would have been a lot easier and maybe my progress could have been a little bit faster.

“But to have something like this, if you’re interested in throwing shot put, you can just come up and do it whenever you want like in the evenings, it just opens the door for kids to have the same opportunities other athletes and kids have in other communities on the South Shore and around Nova Scotia.”

The facility is operated by the Queens County Track Society and maintained by the South Shore Regional Centre for Education.

The society is selling annual memberships of $25 which entitle people to use the track whenever it’s available. More information can be found on the Liverpool community track and field Facebook page.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Kristopher Snarby, president of the Queens County Track Society, says Liverpool’s new all-weather soccer field and rubberized track are almost set to open. (Rick Conrad)

The finish line is in sight for the South Shore’s only year-round soccer field and rubberized track, with only one hurdle left to clear.

“The track is done now. Lights are getting done, so we’re just getting them connected. And now we just have to finalize insurance,” Kristopher Snarby, president of the Queens County Track Society, said in a recent interview.

“And once we have insurance in place, then we can start renting it out and start using it.”

The $3.5-million facility at Liverpool Regional High School features an artificial turf soccer field and a four-lane, 400-metre rubberized track. It also has an additional two lanes on the straightaways for 100-metre sprints and 110-metre hurdles races. The society also plans to install bleachers, but that will have to wait until they raise more money.

“I just think it’s amazing that we have this facility in Liverpool,” Snarby says.

“Being the only one on the South Shore is kind of cool. And knowing that people from Bridgewater, Shelburne and all parts in between will want to be here to train and to play games and to run the track, it’s great. I see people out exercising who are runners, and I’m hoping that we’ll see them running to train here. The big game-changer is that we’ll have year-round use now, or close to year-round.”

The federal government contributed $1.8 million, with the province chipping in $1.2 million and the Region of Queens $250,000. The society is making up the difference, with about $150,000 still left to fundraise.

The high school’s old field didn’t drain properly and was sometimes unusable after a heavy rain. The new facility has a modern drainage system built right into the field.

“So, the water actually drains into the perimeter of where the green is for the field, and then there’s a drainage system underneath. It’s been great. We’ve had some pretty heavy rains, and there’s been no issue with drainage.”

The track society is responsible for maintaining the facility and looking after rentals and scheduling, in co-operation with the South Shore Regional Centre for Education and the municipality.

The facility will also be available for anyone in the community to use. Snarby says they’re still working out scheduling details and the logistics for community use.

With a natural turf soccer field and gravel track planned for North Queens Community School in Caledonia, Queens County athletes will be able to train and play on modern facilities for the first time in years.

The closest all-weather tracks are in Halifax, Clare or at Acadia University in Wolfville, all at least a 90-minute drive away.

“Our kids have been at a disadvantage forever for the track,” Snarby says.

“They literally train around the bus loop here. They run around the school, and that’s how they train for runs. So our kids have had to run through the streets of Liverpool, run in the parking lot, run in the bus loop. So it’s nice that we’re going to have the best facility on the South Shore to train at.

“And if I were a kid, I’d be pretty excited about coming here every day and seeing that compared to what they had before. And the soccer field’s beautiful. It’s going to be great for the community.”

Snarby says he had hoped the field and track would have been open by now, but he’s looking forward to having the insurance ironed out in the next few weeks. He’s happy with the almost-finished product.

“I just want to get the gate open so people can start using it. That’s the priority now.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Matt Smith of North Queens Active Living describes the new track and soccer field project at North Queens Community School in Caledonia to Queens MLA Kim Masland. (Rick Conrad)

Supporters of a long-awaited new soccer field and track at North Queens Community School in Caledonia cleared the final hurdle on Friday afternoon as Queens MLA Kim Masland announced the Nova Scotia government’s grant of $800,000 toward the $1.1 million project.

The Region of Queens had earlier committed $250,000 and a local resident donated land worth $7,500 to expand the field.

“This is absolutely a change maker for our students and our community,” Masland said in an interview after the announcement at the school.

“Our students will now have the opportunity to train at home, to be able to compete in sports that they’ve never been able to compete in before because they didn’t have the place to train. This is about investing in rural communities, this is about investing in our youth, and I’m just so excited about this project.”

The 325-metre gravel track and regulation-sized natural soccer field will mean that the 235 students from pre-Primary to Grade 12 will be able to stay in their community to train and compete. Now, students must travel to Bridgewater or Liverpool or even farther away to Mahone Bay to participate in outdoor school sports.

A concept drawing of the new soccer field and track at North Queens Community School. (North Queens Active Living)

It will also mean that the school will have a place to hold outdoor physical education classes again. As part of the project, its outdoor classroom will also be freshened up, along with a new canopy built by students in the school’s high school construction trades program.

Jake Flemming will be entering Grade 7 at the school in September. He’s on the volleyball and basketball teams and he throws javelin. He said he’s looking forward to using the new facility.

“I think it’s pretty good because hopefully it will help our stuff because we had to kind of practise inside a few times,” he said.

Principal Cindy Arsenault said it’s not safe for kids to use the field because it’s in such bad shape. It’s especially treacherous after it rains because it doesn’t drain properly, and years of damage from ATVs using the field have left holes in the turf.

“So you end up with giant mucky puddles all over, and plus there’s holes because ATVs are here so we have kids stepping in the water and twisting their ankle or falling,” she told QCCR on Friday afternoon.

She said the new fenced facility will get more kids engaged in school sports, which will help lower absenteeism.

“It allows us to bring in some additional sports and some additional things that our kids have been asking for. We could do rugby and some other similar sports, bring back soccer. It means an opportunity not even during school but off school (hours) for families to come and play here and do picnics and we can now start hosting things instead of us driving all the time.

“So for our kids it’s a benefit, they can be involved where they couldn’t before. Now they can come and be on their home field and be participating in sports.”

The new field and track aren’t just for the school to use, it will also be available for the whole community.

Alyssa Short, president of the North Queens Active Living Society, said she and other group members have worked for the past six years to make the new field a reality, though the need for a new field and track goes back decades.

“I have young children here and I know that the impact that it’s going to have on their lives is going to be incredible,” she said, “and I can see for all of their friends growing up with access to something like this it’s going to make such a big difference in their lives and I know for the community at large, there are so many people excited about this and who are going to take full advantage of this and it’s going to have a huge impact.”

Short expects work to begin this summer. She said she hopes the track and soccer field will be ready by the spring.

With a new rubberized track and artificial turf soccer field set to open soon at Liverpool Regional High School, Queens County athletes and community members will soon have two new facilities.

Masland said that will help young athletes from the area follow in the footsteps of Queens County Olympians like Jenna Martin and Sarah Mitton.

“We’re developing future athletes. If we think about Liverpool, we think about our Sarah; if we think about North Queens, we think about our Jenna. And there’s more Sarahs and there’s more Jennas and we have to make sure we have the place for them to grow and to train.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, with Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman on Friday at Queens Place Emera Centre after Masland announced more than $2.7 million in funding for Queens County. (Rick Conrad)

A new outdoor pool and a state-of-the-art track and soccer field for Queens County got a lot closer to reality on Friday as Queens MLA Kim Masland announced more than $2.7 million in funding for the region.

Masland, who is also the province’s public works minister, told a crowd at Queens Place Emera Centre that the province will give $2.2 million toward the $7.2-million community pool to be located next to Queens Place.

She also pledged an extra $500,000 for a new all-weather artificial turf soccer field and rubberized track at Liverpool Regional High School. Masland announced $700,000 last fall for the facility. That was before the design was changed to make it an all-weather facility, which would be the first of its kind on the South Shore. That brings the provincial contribution for that project to $1.2 million.

Masland made the funding announcements on behalf of Allan MacMaster, minister of communities, culture, tourism and heritage.

“These announcements are all about physical activity, making sure that we have opportunities for people living here and for people who are interested in moving to be part of what we have going on here in Queens. Great investment to keep our youth engaged,” she told reporters afterward.

“People that are moving to our communities, we have new doctors moving here, they have young families. They want to have facilities where their children and where they themselves … can be active. Health care is what we were elected on, and every decision that we make, health care plays a role in.”

Masland also announced the Liverpool Curling Club will get $47,030 for upgrades to its kitchen facilities.

The pool will be a six-lane, 25-metre, zero-entry structure, with a therapy hot tub.

The Region of Queens is contributing $2 million toward the pool, while an anonymous private donor has committed about $3 million.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman said that tenders for work on the pool will be issued soon. And the hope is that construction will begin in spring of 2025, with an anticipated opening in 2026.

“The next call will be the issuing of tenders. All the pre-designs are completed.”

Deborah Herman-Spartinelli is a member of the region’s pool committee and the Queens Community Aquatic Society. She said the provincial funding was “wonderful” news.

“We still need to fundraise for certain aspects. There’s all these things like starter blocks, equipment and the therapy pool and other things that are needed.”

Kristopher Snarby is president of the Queens County Track Society. He said that with Friday’s provincial funding, in addition to $1.8 million from the federal government and $250,000 from the municipality, his group has about $100,000 in fundraising left to do.

“We’re still hopeful that we might be able to get it done by late fall,” Snarby said in an interview.

“From a soccer perspective, it’s great. It allows us to have a longer season. You can play into the winter if you want to, as long as there’s no snow. From a track perspective, the rubberized surface will be fully accessible, a level walking area for seniors, for people with disabilities, and that also can be used year-round as well.”

This is the Houston government’s second significant funding announcement for Queens County in the past two weeks. On April 15, Masland announced $10.7 million for upgraded water and sewer infrastructure that would also be extended to the Mount Pleasant area of Liverpool.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

The soccer field at Liverpool Regional High School will be getting a makeover this year, with artificial turf and a new all-weather track. (Rick Conrad)

South Shore track and field athletes will be getting a year-round, all-weather track at Liverpool Regional High School.

The Queens County Track Society has decided to upgrade its original plan. Instead of an eight-lane gravel track, the school will now be getting a rubberized four- to six-lane surface.

It’s part of a $3-million upgrade to the school’s outdoor facilities, which also includes a new artificial turf soccer field.

Kristopher Snarby is president of the Queens County Track Society. He said Liverpool will have the only rubberized track and turf soccer field on the South Shore.

“That means it’ll be able to be used year-round. You don’t have to worry about thawing and bad weather and it’s a lot more accessible for people. So it’s definitely a nice change to the original plan.”

He said the change will add between $250,000 and $300,000 to the cost of the project. The original price tag was pegged at $2.75 million, with funding from the federal, provincial and municipal governments.

RELATED: Liverpool high school to get new track and artificial turf soccer field

Snarby said the group decided the extra cost was worth it to have a year-round facility.

“One of the challenges with gravel, is that when you have the type of weather that we have, it means there’s a lot of upkeep to keep the track surface safe for people to train on. With the rubberized synthetic version, it’s going to be an attraction for athletes all over the South Shore to train on who are doing running events in track and field.”

The 400-metre track will now have four lanes, with an additional two on the straightaways for 100-metre and 110-metre hurdles races.

There are rubberized tracks at Acadia University in Wolfville, King’s-Edgehill School in Windsor, one in Clare and some in Halifax. The closest track to Queens County is a gravel facility at Park View Education Centre in Bridgewater.

Snarby says he’s confident the group can find the money to cover the extra expense.

“We’ve been really fortunate with the funding from the different levels of government. It is a bit more expensive but not crazy expensive like some other versions could have been, I guess.”

He said athletes from around the South Shore will benefit from the upgraded track. He said that because it will be fully accessible, a wider range of people, including para athletes and Special Olympics athletes, will be able to use it.

“It’s going to be a big game changer. It’ll be the only turf filed on the South Shore and also the only rubberized track on the south shore. We’re envisioning soccer teams coming here to use it. When younger athletes from the South Shore that go on to regionals and provincials, they’re always playing on turf fields now. And they’re also running on rubberized tracks. So it will give the South Shore region an advantage being able to train on the same type of track and field that they would be playing higher level games at.”

It will also give people in the community a safe, accessible surface to use.

“It’s going to be a great surface for people to get out in the fresh air and walk or run on a surface where they don’t have to worry about rolling their ankles and tripping. So it’s truly going to be a fully inclusive community space for people to use.”

Snarby said the group plans to launch some fundraising efforts in the next few weeks.

And he said they hope to have the track and soccer field completed by late fall, but he said it depends on contractor availability.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to Tuesday’s news update below