‘It’s all been positive’; District, Vision 2020 call dome’s first year a success
Published 11:19 am Thursday, May 12, 2016
The Austin softball team warms up under the dome over Art Hass Stadium before a winter league game.
— Herald file photos
Coaches and school district officials are calling the first year of the Wescott Athletic Complex dome a success.
The dome is set to come down this week and go into storage until late next winter after a year of several practices, walks and open events at the site.
“From everything I heard, it’s all been positive,” Superintendent David Krenz said.
The dome debuted late last year as part of a $5.2 million project that also added artificial turf to Art Hass Field and Larry Gilbertson Track and Field.
The dome gave athletes and community members alike a chance to get in and play their sport, take a walk or jog, or just get inside and play under the warmth of the dome as the cold frosty air covered Austin.
“I think it was great,” said Greg Siems, director of Vision 2020. “Every indication I’ve gotten is that it was used and it was busy all of the time. Once it goes from the idea stage to actually seeing it in the flesh it’s an exciting thing and it shows how its benefiting the community.”
Austin Public Schools Facilities Coordinator Dan Ball said the dome drew people from all areas of the community and many of them are going to miss it when it goes down this week.
Next year, the dome is expected to be up from around late November until late April.
A pick-up game of soccer was one of the many activities taking place late last year during an open house for the dome to showcase what is possible under the structure.
“For the most part, we’re happy with how it went,” Ball said. “The response has been almost 100 percent favorable, and we don’t have any complaints at all. Most people from out of town were amazed that we can have this kind of facility in a high school setting. They were impressed with it.”
Speaking to the school board Monday, Krenz said they had very few incidents at the dome — one where someone fell on ice and another where someone accidentally left through an emergency exit and the air pressure blew him or her out the dome.
While he admitted the district worked through some things, he said it’s a sign that they listened to and took action after receiving feedback.
“We listen when you bring things forward and they’re reasonable,” Krenz said.
The dome didn’t initially allow joggers, for example, but it later allowed joggers to join walkers on the walking track after receiving public feedback.
Ball said the dome hosted college softball games, and workouts for many AHS sports throughout the year. He said next year the dome will be even more convenient as there should be a bigger parking lot on the west side and the areas that were muddy this past spring will be covered with blacktop next year.
“Hopefully by the time it opens up next year, it’ll look even better,” Ball said. “We kind of ran out of time and it wasn’t exactly how we wanted this year.”
Ball is hoping to make things a little more organized next year and he also wants to find some time for younger kids to come and use it during the day.
“Hopefully we can do a little bit better job of scheduling, but other than that I don’t know if there’s a lot of changes we’re going to make,” he said.
The dome offered the Packer spring teams a chance to get a jump start on their season. It hosted a winter softball league, and the Packer baseball team was able to do things it never could’ve imagined doing in the confines of a gym.
Players from visiting teams in Austin’s winter league make use of the batting cages.
“It gave us an advantage at the beginning of the year,” Austin head baseball coach Chris Gogolewski said. “We were able to [practice with a] full infield and full outfield. It’s a huge advantage to see almost live baseball in February and the boys capitalized on it. They were there whenever they could go.”
Austin head softball coach Al Eckmann said the dome will provide a great place for softball players to hone their game for years to come.
“I think it’s fantastic softball-wise,” he said. “We were doing things on the first day of practice that we couldn’t have done inside before. It’s wonderful for softball and for all athletes. It’s really good for the community. People love it and it’s a great asset to the community.”
The dome project saw Austin Public Schools partner with Vision 2020 and The Hormel Foundation. Austin Public Schools contributed $2.5 million from school reserves, and the Hormel Foundation donated $2.7 million.
—Jason Schoonover contributed to this report.
