“The baseball fields in Patriarche Park were constructed more than 65 years ago and had not received substantial improvements since their initial construction,” Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation Wendy Longpre said in an email statement. “They were well beyond their useful life."

Renovations entered the planning stage in 2012, and renovations began in August 2019.

The project was funded through income tax revenue from this year, as well as through a grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The grant, from The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, has awarded over $1.1 billion to counties across Michigan, in order to help these counties acquire land and improve public outdoor recreation. The trust fund was established in 1976.

The City of East Lansing received $50,000 in funding for the project, Longpre said via email. The project cost $284,600 in total.

“The City submitted the grant request in April, 2016," she said. "State Legislature allocated the funds to the project in June, 2017."

Longpre said that the city has more planned for the park. Renovations to the park’s pavilions and restrooms are planned for winter or spring of 2020. The city has also applied for two grants to reconstruct the park’s tennis or pickleball courts, as well as the basketball courts.

Longpre also said that community use of the parks stayed consistent throughout the pandemic as residents looked for ways to interact with others in an outdoor, socially distanced manner. She said that Patriarche Park’s Northern Tier Trail, a 4.8 mile paved pathway, was especially popular under Michigan’s stay-at-home order.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will feature guest speakers Mayor Aaron Stephens, Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Tim McCaffrey, and the president of the East Lansing Baseball Club, Alan Wilk.

The release also said that community members and members of the local media are welcomed to attend, and that masks and physical distancing is required. The ceremony is also limited to 100 people or less.