A brand, new sports complex that sat largely idle for several years is about to get very active this weekend.
The Cedar Grove Sports Complex, which features several lighted sports fields, a walking trail and a covered pavilion with food preparation area and bathrooms, will be hosting “Kicktober Fest” on Saturday, October 8th from 2 until 10 p.m. It’s a kickball tournament fundraiser put on by a nonprofit organization that formed in 2016 to improve the social and physical well-being of those living in, and visiting Cedar Grove.
Bradley Huenink is the President of that group known as “CG at Play”, whose first project was an up-to-date playground at Memorial Park. The group organized several events following that. “Some things we did were a community cookoff, movie night in the park, ice cream social, a kid’s fun run, we ran the dunk tank at Holland Fest and we had a float in the parade.”
The event this weekend is raising funds for the Het Street Project, which plans to refurbish the pre-1947 Dutch-style storefronts on the village’s Main Street back to the character reminiscent of Amsterdam’s traditional, colorful neighborhoods.
Huenink gave us a rundown of Saturday’s feature events, saying “It’s going to be this Saturday from 2 to 10 p.m. We’re going to have live music, a 50-50 raffle, there’ll be a trivia competition, we’re going to have two live bands, there’ll be beer, brats, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, some different kicking contests, so it should be a good time, hopefully bringing a lot of the community together.”
And did he say “Beer”? Heunink laughed while saying: “Yeah, that’s kind of a big deal!” Cedar Grove is well-known for its Holland Fest, one of the few alcohol-free festivals in the area, and typical of a conservative Dutch-heritage village that for many years had restricted alcohol sales to its single restaurant and a bar. Kicktober Fest will be the first outdoor festival in the village to offer beer.
Kicktober Fest is the first really large-scale event for the Sports Complex, which saw several delays after facilities were completed on the former farm field that bordered the west end of the village. The biggest problem was getting the grass needed for baseball and soccer fields to grow after first being planted in 2019 and failing. COVID kept the fields idle and bare during 2020, and then the drought of 2021 further delayed opening. Finally, soccer teams took to the field this past spring.
Saturday’s events, which will put all the park’s many facilities to use, begin at 2 p.m. and run until 10 p.m. To find out more visit CGatPlay.org
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