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Show We Heed A Lighted Ball Park The tn-rnmdous asset of a lighted ball park was brought Id the attention of business, and civic representatives of St. (ieorte when a f-roup of them attended the St. George-Cedar George-Cedar I, ions ball game at Cedar City on last Thursday night. The group was taken as guests by the local Lions club in order' to bring to their attention just what such a lighted field could mean to St. George. We were astonished to see the large crowd that turned out for the games. And more so when business leaders of Cedar assured us that it was that way practically every night. It seems that there are about 20 Softball teams in Cedar and that they have three games each night. This means that there are around 200 men, boys and girls that are playing ball. It also means that everyone of the players has friends and relatives and they are interested in the game with the result that they are drawing big crowds and the field is paying for itself and providing a fine, clean recreation at a small cost. Cedar City has been playing softball longer than St. George and in consequence had more interest in the game U'fore they got their lighted field. However, Cedar people told us that there were small crowds at the games when they played in the daytime, and many of the business houses didn't encourage the game because they were unable to allow their employees to take time out to play. With the night games, there is no interference with working conditions con-ditions and the spectators enjoy coming out in the cool of the evening and watching the sport. We have seen large crowds at the softball games in California and knew the interest that was taken in the game there, but we were really surprised with the size of the crowd that turned out at Cedar City. If St. George could get half that many out to their games they could easily pay for the cost of installing the lights, bleachers, etc. and have a small profit to go toward other recreation too. The records reveal that the Cedar equipment cost about $500. Operating cost runs slightly over $1 an hour. Thus with an admission price of 10c a ticket, 25c a car, including passengers, or $1 for a season ticket, you can easily see that there could be enough revenue taken in to pay out on the field. The St. George Lions club is taking an active part in attempting to put this project over. It was the Cedar Lions who successfully brought the Cedar lighted field into being. The cooperation of other civic and club organizations should be given the Lions in their endeavor. We feel sure that if the money could be raised, it could be paid back and the field put on a money making basis. In most places such fields and plants are City-owned and operated and are handled under the parks department. We urge that the City also give this project serious consideration. Statistics show that it is much cheaper to care for our youth through recreation such as this than to pay to take care of those who drift into criminal pursuits because be-cause of a lack of something to do. Not, that we think St. George is the breeding ground for criminals, but simply that a sound program of recreation will return big dividends. |