Clearwater hosts its own Field of Dreams

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This article was published 07/09/2024 (398 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CLEARWATER — There were no creepy whispers coming out of the crops, nor did ‘Shoeless” Joe Jackson or any other late sporting greats appear out of thin air to offer words of encouragement.

But that didn’t stop farmer Joe Gardiner from pursuing his own unique vision — one that had been percolating in his head for years and began taking shape last winter during a vacation with his wife — of turning a Manitoba corn crop into a baseball diamond.

The end result is a “Field of Dreams” that appears to be straight out of the famous 1989 movie.

“It was tough to imagine it could turn into this,” a beaming Gardiner said this week while standing in the middle of his magical creation — a four-acre field surrounded by six acres of towering corn stalks, which are the closest thing to a skyscraper you’ll find around here.

“No one has been crazy enough to do this. We scoured the Internet, thinking I would find other examples of what to do, but none of that exists. I couldn’t believe it. Not in Manitoba. Not in Canada. Not in North America. Not in Europe. It turned out better than I thought. The weather was just absolutely perfect. If we had any hiccups weather-wise it would have been a serious challenge.”

There’s one thing you quickly learn about Clearwater and the 70 or so people who call this tiny southwestern hamlet home upon arrival: They’re not afraid to think big.

They’ve been rolling out the welcome mat to visitors from far and wide every fall for the past 23 years while hosting the Harvest Moon Festival. They are home to Manitoba’s oldest, and largest, annual baseball tournament, held every July 1 for 73 years and counting.

And now, a little slice of paradise right in their own backyard.

“It’s actually amazing how it came to this,” said Travis Avery, who is Gardiner’s business partner with Covers & Co., which is a crop and forage seed supplier helping farmers solve problems with plant diversity.

“He’s been talking about this for years. If you know him, though, this isn’t crazy.”

The first step was building it, which has truly been a community effort spanning many months. It began last spring with planting grass seed that quickly sprung to life thanks to plenty of precipitation.

Same with sowing the corn, which is inter-cropped with soybeans to be harvested as winter feed for livestock. Not only does it provide a higher quality food source rich in protein, it also is better for the environment using less nitrogen.

“There’s been many times we’ve wanted to quit, but Mother Nature wants this project to happen so badly because she cooperated with us every step of the way,” said Gardiner. “This is one of the nicest corn inter-crops I’ve ever seen.”

With as many as two dozen volunteer helpers on scene any given day, fencing and signage and grandstands and lighting have been added while the infield has been meticulously crafted and groomed.

“The field has been rolled maybe 100 times already,” said Gardiner.

Jace Guilford, who graduated high school last spring and joined Gardiner’s company, helped provide much of the brawn this summer.

“It’s been a labour of love, absolutely. It’s kept me pretty busy,” said Guilford, who played baseball until two years and now is a high-level umpire. “At the start it was a little slow because you’ve got to wait for the corn to grow. But it has all come together nicely. (Gardiner’s) vision has kind of come through. Everyone is absolutely talking about. It’s spread pretty far.”

To that extent, the second important step beyond building it was getting people to come.

Locals have been checking it out daily, but Gardiner wanted to do something to truly celebrate it and incorporate a fundraising element. The end result is a day-long baseball tournament which will be held today featuring three all-star teams from different parts of the province.

Team Central will be comprised of players from Clearwater, including Gardiner and others from communities between Killarney, Altona and Portage la Prairie. Team East will involve participants from Winnipeg, Steinbach, Stonewall and the Interlake. And Team West will cover the rest of the region.

“I wanted to get the best baseball players I could find in Manitoba,” said Gardiner.

There will be round-robin games between the three teams beginning at noon, a home-run derby, and then the top two squads meeting in the final beginning at 7 p.m., with the last few innings likely played under the lights. There will be walk-up music, player introductions and even an organist on scene.

The event is open to the public and there will also be a beer gardens, food stands and a merchandise table. Spectators can also head beyond the outfield to check out a mile-long corn maze Gardiner and his staff have cut out with assistance from a drone.

Resident Sven Conquist couldn’t believe what he saw the first time he biked down to the corn field and realized what it had become. He jokingly suggested Gardiner get some buckets of dry ice and have ball players in pinstripes emerge through the smoke out, just as the “ghosts” in the movie did.

“This is very cool,” he said.

Between ticket sales and sponsorships, nearly $50,000 has already been raised which will go directly to the Clearwater Community Foundation, which supports local events and institutions.

“For small communities like ours, that’s a lifeline,” said Gardiner. “I just love the concept of the foundation. It’s going to feed the community for years and years to come.”

There’s a rich baseball history in Clearwater, as demonstrated by the fact they still have a senior baseball team. Gardiner’s uncle, Scott, played for 25 years and is now the president of the charitable foundation.

“(Joe) is not just a baseball fan, he’s a fanatic. When we heard about (his idea), we were all in and excited,” he said. “I think in every small town in rural Manitoba, sports can be the hub of what’s going on. It’s a meeting place for everyone. This is just fabulous.”

Gardiner, who lists Field of Dreams as a “top five movie” for him, insists this is a one-and-done tribute never to be repeated again. But he was happy to take a page out of Kevin Costner’s fictional playbook and build on a rich baseball history with deep roots in his own backyard.

“Hopefully we see a lot of balls flying into the corn,” he said.

» Winnipeg Free Press