By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor
WESTERNPORT — The Westernport Giants will be getting a new field.
The Westernport Youth Football League (WYFL) was notified Monday that Giants Field, the former Bruce High School football field, was chosen as one of the 30 fields to receive a $15,000 makeover through the Kelloggs Frosted Flakes Plant a Seed contest.
The local field made it through the initial voting stage — first having survived the cut which took the thousands of nominees down to the top 100 fields, and then finishing 28th out of the 30 fields that received the most online votes prior to the May 31 deadline.
The month-long voting period was a nail-biter for those family, friends and fans who kept daily tabs on the process. At one point, Giants Field was as high as sixth place, but it slowly slid down the list, dipping as low as 29th place before being boosted back up to 28th by a last-minute surge of votes.
The final tally was 19,927 votes.
The fine print on the Kelloggs Plant a Seed website pointed out, however, that the online voting was the only criteria by which the fields would be
judged. Once the voting was complete, a review team from Kelloggs verified the votes and reviewed the nominations/submissions for a final decision.
Among the items the team was to review included the feasibility of the makeover, the age of the field, how often it is and will be used, the number of teams that use the field, and the availability of any other fields in the area.
Jim Shafer, president of the WYFL, received the notification Monday that Giants Field had passed the final review. His work, however, is not yet done.
“At this point, we need to complete the required paperwork and work with Frosted Flakes to coordinate all the particulars involved with the makeover,” he said.
The field, which was regularly the site of packed bleachers when Bruce High was in its heyday, was the home of the Westmar Middle Wildcats until 2007, when the middle school was moved to Lonaconing.
The following year, the WYFL was born and the field — overgrown with tall grass and weeds and plagued by a deteriorating field house — was kept in operation through the volunteer efforts of parents.
Shafer said he was not sure when the actual makeover will begin.
Westernport, Md. —
