By Carl Fish
Press Release City Of Bartow
Ribbon Cutting planned for Oct. 4
The City of Bartow will cut the ribbon on the newly renovated Bartow Sports Complex, located at 850 County Road 555, on Friday, Oct. 4 at 9:30 am This project was a joint venture between the City of Bartow Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department and Visit Central Florida Sports.
The renovations included the construction of four new softball fields, two restrooms, two batting cage structures, four shade structures, eight shade covered bleachers and the installation of sidewalks leading from parking area. There also was a paved driveway added into the park with an additional entrance/exit location on to Highway 555. The parking area for the complex will accommodate 742 vehicles. The total cost for the project was $5,791,300 million, split evenly between both parties.
“The Bartow Sports Complex is poised to become an even bigger landmark for the City of Bartow,” said Jason Hargrove, Bartow’s Director of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts.
“Thanks to a great partnership with Polk County (Visit Central Florida Sports), we can provide a facility to our residents that they can be proud of and participate in recreational leagues along with being one of the jewels of Sports tourism in Bartow. These fields will be high quality for both our residents and visitors who travel here for tournaments.”
The new softball fields at the Complex are expected to attract more than 30 events annually, including youth softball tournaments, high school and college softball tournaments and 55+ softball tournaments. This expansion will allow current partners, such as United States Fastpitch Association, National Softball Association, USA Softball, Tier One Fastpitch, among others, to create even larger events in the City.
The improvements at the Complex also will allow the ability to recruit high caliber events, such as the USA Softball Junior Olympic Cup, international championships and state tournaments. The total economic impact of these events is projected to be more than $17 million – $11 million of which is projected to stay in Bartow.
“The renovation at the Bartow Sports Complex is a terrific partnership between the City of Bartow and Polk County (Visit Central Florida Sports). This project will create a world class facility that will house Polk County’s largest collection of fast pitch softball fields, totaling eight,” said Mark Jackson, Central Florida’s Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing Director.
“The seemingly unending demand we have created for softball in all its iterations and decades of developing that demand for Bartow and Polk County have led to this exciting project. By adding more supply, we continue to fuel the economic dynamo of sports tourism in Polk County and Bartow,” Jackson added.
This facility will also allow the City’s Parks & Recreation staff to create new recreational leagues such as Adult/Co-Ed Slow-Pitch Softball and Kickball leagues for our residents. The City will continue to serve the Bartow Babe Ruth Youth Softball League at the Complex.
The first softball tournament on the new fields is scheduled to begin just hours after the ribbon cutting. It will be a Showcase style event welcoming up to 32 teams from around the state, and a few from outside of Florida. College coaches will be in attendance to evaluate the 16 and under and 18 and under teams.
