Borough Field Renewed With New Sod

Hellertown Borough Council was told Oct. 1 about a renewal project that has breathed new life into Dimmick Park's East End Field.

Hellertown Royals manager Bob Zerfass came before council to request that the field be temporarily closed, to allow the sod that was recently put down time to stabilize and take root.

Zerfass credited Lehigh Valley IronPigs director of field operations Bill Butler with helping to strip the field of its old sod in September.

After that it was graded and recovered with 8,000 square feet of new sod.

That work was accomplished and funded through a partnership between the Royals and Saucon Valley Senior Little League, Zerfass said, adding that public works staff also lent a hand.

"It was a very good cooperative effort," he told council.

The field has been fertilized and surrounded with orange snow-fencing, which Zerfass said will remain up until the spring.

Ordinarily the field would reopen in late March or early April, but he requested that it be allowed to remain fallow until later next year.

"The sod looks beautiful now," Zerfass said. "But we need to give it a chance to sort of take care of itself in the spring."

"The field’s beautiful," council vice president John Bate agreed. "We need to follow your recommendation to keep it that way," he said to Zerfass. 

Council unanimously approved a motion to authorize keeping the field closed in the early spring.

Zerfass said it was the first time the East End Field had been covered with new sod since the mid-1980s.

"We put a lot of effort into it (and) a lot of money into it," he said.