LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Kirk Berendes regularly has had to rush home from work so he can get his three lacrosse-playing young sons to Schroeder-Manatee Ranch’s Premier Sports Campus before it gets dark.
But now, with Monday’s unveiling of a $1.1 million array of stadium-like lights at the soccer and lacrosse complex off State Road 70, Berendes, who lives in Terra Ceia north of Palmetto, doesn’t have to rush anymore.
“It’s awesome,” Berendes said moments after the lights were switched on, turning night into day at the fields.
“It will allow working dads not to have to rush to get out here before sunset,” he said. Berendes’ sons, Twins Christian and Zach, 13, and Tyler 10 play for both the Monster lacrosse and Lakewood Ranch lacrosse leagues. “It will also enable us to have our boys do their homework before they come out.”
The lights will not impact S.R. 70 traffic and may be on until 10 p.m. on some evenings, said Tim Mulqueen, director of sports at Lakewood Ranch.
Under a white tent near where Berendes’ boys were practicing along with hundreds of other soccer and lacrosse teams Monday, a crowd of about 100 attended the official lighting ceremony.
SMR officials announced to the crowd that the fields will have a $62 million economic impact in 2012 based on how many nighttime events can now be scheduled and how many area hotel rooms, rental vehicles and restaurant seats will be filled.
“We asked ourselves the question, ‘What could we do in a bad economy to promote economic development?’” Rex Jensen, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch chief executive officer and president, told the crowd in giving a history of the fields. “We came up with the idea that this could be the epicenter of amateur sports. We reasoned that if we put on tournaments, parents would follow kids to the tournament. During our Labor Day soccer tournament, the Burger King on State Road 70 ran out of burgers. Can you believe Burger King ran out of burgers? How about this? The Subway restaurant down the road hit its September quota for the entire month by Sept. 4.”
Sherry McMillan, general manager of the nearby S.R. 70 Dunkin Donut, told the crowd that her store also ran out of doughnuts over Labor Day weekend.
“These fields mean job security to me and I like job security,” McMillan said.
Jensen said that the lights are the second big investment after the fields themselves, which cost about $1 million.
“We got quiet and listened to the market and it told us to put up lights,” said Jensen. He said there will be more built here in the future.
In his short speech to the crowd, Mulqueen focused on child safety, which has been forefront in the news lately.
“It’s not easy in today’s world to find a safe place for kids to play,” Mulqueen said. “Parents have expressed their thanks to me for this place.”
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-748-0411, ext. 6686.
