The official grand opening of the Matsqui Recreation Centre fields occurs on Friday, and the entire community is invited to celebrate.
Plans for the construction of the fields were approved back in 2014, with a scaled back proposal moving forward last May. Original plans included a field house and a large skate park, but the field house had to be removed after budgeting came in too high. The skate park was also scaled back for financial reasons. The project’s budgeted cost was $6.8 million.
The MRC fields consists of three new turf fields in central Abbotsford, one on city land behind MRC, and two on school district land at Colleen and Gordie Howe middle school and W.J. Mouat secondary school.
The fields officially open on Friday at 1 p.m., with Mayor Henry Braun, city council and representatives from the Abbotsford School District on hand. Local sports teams, athletic clubs and school bands are also all expected to be on hand for the opening.
Parking is available on west side of fields by Matsqui Rec Centre. Organizers ask that those attending do not park in CG Howe School parking area.