By Anna Skinner
With the opening of baseball season and Grand Park beginning its second year of business, Westfield City Council members held an informational meet-and-greet to explain the park to anyone who visited the sports complex on April 18.
The city council provided free coffee and donuts. They had pamphlets with maps of the park and offered to show visitors around the park and answer any questions.
“We just want to introduce the public to Grand Park. We are making sure the community comes (to) see what we have and to meet the councilors and see who the councilors are,” Councilor Cindy Spoljaric said. “It’s (Grand Park) exceeded our expectations. All the feedback from local and out-of-the-jurisdiction (residents) really love the quality of the park. Most are amazed at the size.”
The schedule for Grand Park has been completely booked this year already. Last year, the park saw nearly 907,000 visits from sports teams.
“I think Grand Park has proven to be very successful. The first year it more than doubled the number of visitors we anticipated,” District 5 Councilor Bob Horkay said. “The public is very receptive of the activities we have planned. We are already booked for the full season, and it is very rewarding to hear and see all the activity that goes on here.”
Grand Park offers artificial and natural fields that cover 400 acres and contain 26 diamonds, 31 multipurpose fields and more than 10 miles of paved trails.
With a shopping center and hotel that is planned to be available late 2016, Grand Park is expected to earn $150 million in tax revenue each year.
