DARRINGTON — Everybody involved thought that the idea was a good one.
Snohomish County would build a ballpark and this small town would reap the benefit. People playing in baseball and softball tournaments and their families would shop, buy gas and stay overnight, spending some money and making elected officials and business owners happy.
The county’s Parks and Recreation spent $1.1 million to build a baseball-softball complex at the 80-acre Whitehorse Community Park just north of Darrington. The park has been completed in sections with the last piece finished in 2007.
This summer, however, nobody seems to want to drive to Darrington to play ball. That’s rough for the cash-strapped little town of Darrington, which spends about $20,000 a year to keep the county park in good shape.
With its big view of Whitehorse Mountain, the park is easily one of the most scenic in the county, if not the region.
Local Little League and Babe Ruth-American Legion games are played at the park, and sometimes the high school baseball team plays there, town administrator Lyla Boyd said.
“That was part of the idea, too,” Boyd said. “In the 1990s, Darrington kids were playing baseball in parking lots in town because the school couldn’t accommodate all the games.”
Now, though, there is no money available for the county or the town to further develop the county park, with much needed drinking water, permanent restrooms and showers, bleachers, a concession stand and camping and laundry facilities.
The goal of attracting tournaments and tourists each summer to the economically beleaguered former logging town hasn’t been met.
“I think we were a little slow on our tournament promotion this year, but we didn’t get a single phone call,” town councilman Kerry Frable said. “It’s really discouraging. It’s frustrating. And it’s expensive.”
Part of the problem is that there are fewer adults playing softball these days, said Steve Jensen who serves as state director of youth fastpitch on the National Softball Association of Washington and used to play a lot of softball.
“Men’s softball has declined tremendously,” said Jensen, who lives in Arlington. “One of the reasons is that dads are spending more time with their kids, and many kids now play sports year-round.”
It’s a 100-mile round trip from Everett to play a game at Whitehorse park and that is a factor with the current economy, said Dale Gellner, who directs adult slow pitch for the softball association.
“Tournaments that strictly rely on outside teams traveling in are usually not all that successful,” said Gellner, who lives in Mukilteo. “There needs to be a pool of teams from the local area that are in a tournament to convince outside teams that it would be worthwhile that they join in.”
Grocery store owner, sports fan and former town councilman Kevin Ashe became involved with the ballpark about 10 years ago.
“It took forever to build, and now it needs more work,” Ashe said. “It really could turn into a destination facility if we included a skate park, tennis courts and a water park.”
The town of Darrington really needs the help, Ashe said.
“Our grocery store’s been in the family for close to 40 years. Any tourist activity makes a difference to us,” he said. “We’re hanging in there, but even with the recent Bluegrass Festival and StrutzFest, people aren’t spending money. A softball tournament could really help.”
A public-private partnership might be the answer to the park’s future, county parks director Tom Teigen said.
“We have talked with some camping companies about this, but with the economic downturn, companies are really hunkered down right now,” Teigen said. “I do think the staycation and nearby destination recreation is here to stay. As soon we get potable water out to the site, we can move ahead. The lack of funding makes it really tough right now.”
The idea that if you built it, they will come doesn’t always work out, Everett Community College political science instructor Steve Horn said. Sometimes essential studies aren’t completed before the building begins.
“The story about Darrington relates to efforts to build sports stadiums. It’s been demonstrated that these don’t always contribute to advancing the economic welfare of a municipality,” Horn said. “This kind of issue is being talked about a lot at the national level, and here it is happening at the local level.”
Meanwhile, people in Darrington have an empty park to care for this summer.
Councilman Frable had been waiting for a nice big softball tournament in which to have the baseball field’s official dedication.
The field is to be named for the late Glenn Hyatt, a star athlete at Darrington High School in the late 1940s. Hyatt was drafted by the New York Giants the night he graduated from high school, and he played professional baseball until he went into the service during the Korean War.
“We’ve tried to have a couple of tournaments, so it’s crowded for the dedication ceremony,” Frable said. “It hasn’t happened yet.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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