Glenbard West's Memorial Field ready for unveiling

Glenbard West High School officials say the finishing touches on a $1.6 million project to install artificial turf at Memorial Field should be applied today.

And, though the official ribbon-cutting will not be held until Sept. 25, the school plans to waste no time getting on the field. If all goes as planned, a freshman football game will break in the new field on Saturday morning.

The actual ceremony will be held at about 11 a.m. Sept. 25, between the boys soccer game against Rockford Boylan High School and the girls field hockey game against Deerfield High School.

Assistant Principal for Athletics Linda Oberg said the field, along Crescent Boulevard just south of the school, will get plenty of use in the first month, with more than 60 games and practices scheduled, plus countless physical education classes.

"I almost break my neck every day just staring at it," Oberg said. "Even the PE classes are champing at the bit to get their kids out there."

The summer construction strike and weather-related delays pushed the opening back from an initial aggressive schedule that had projected an August or early-September opening.

The delay cost the soccer team two home games. However, Oberg said the gains made will offset that.

"A year ago today, kids and coaches were embarrassed about their facility," she said Wednesday. "There is now so much to be proud of."

In years past, players and coaches from opposing team had ridiculed the field's conditions. The field usually remained nearly unplayable days following inclement weather.

The conditions led a residents group to get involved in the project's funding. The group Gain Ground raised about $330,000 to pay for a portion of the project's cost.

The remainder will be paid through vendor contracts and savings related to the turf. For example, Oberg said, in the first month, about 40 bus trips to practice fields in the area for the teams will be eliminated.

Recently, Glenbard High School District 87 officials approached the village of Glen Ellyn to ask for a license agreement that gives the schools permission to build on the village's right of way. The deal means the school can install concrete barriers at the fence line to more effectively separate the field from the parking spaces along Crescent.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Chris McClain said the move was a mere formality and that it should not affect the area much.

"What we're trying to do is place the fence in a logical location and, in some areas, we'd be barely on the village's right of way," he said.