Soccer field at Willis Winters Park undergoing renovation

Soccer field at Willis Winters Park. Photo courtesy of Barbara Cohen.

The soccer field at Willis C. Winters Park is undergoing a $250,000 renovation project.

Barbara Cohen and the Friends of Willis Winters Park have been working since at least 2020 to get the field regraded and re-leveled.

After securing the donations needed to fund the project, negotiations with the City began. The donors wanted to make sure the field would be properly used and maintained. For example, no one will be able to play on the field when it rains, and there will also be rules prohibiting chairs and canopies from being set up on it.

It will be used only for soccer, and Cohen says she hopes community members as well as the school teams will take advantage of it.

“It’s so positive for our community,” says Cohen, the president of the friends group.

For Cohen, this is a great example of residents working with the City, and it’s one more step in improving the park for the neighborhood. In January, City staff removed over 300 feet of chain link fence from the park. The friends group also organizes regular volunteer days to pick up trash, maintain the pollinator garden and do other tasks.

“We’re not looking at short-term goals. We’re looking at long-term goals,” Cohen says.

Stripping the field, grading and irrigating it is expected to be completed around May. Then crews will need to place the sod and give it enough time grow. Cohen says they hope the field will be open by September or October, but it depends on how hot the summer is.