The Spanish Fort Sports Association recently erected a scoreboard at the Spanish Fort Elementary School football field. Games can now be hosted at the park.

On Aug. 16, the Baldwin County Board of Education approved the installation, and on Saturday, Aug. 25, the first-ever scoreboard was installed.

With a back hoe operated by Ed Dismukes and other volunteers equipped with shovels, the scoreboard was installed on the 30-yard line on the north side of the football field. This is the field’s first scoreboard. Two more scoreboards will be installed for the baseball and football fields soon.

The property is located behind the school and is owned by the BCBE. The property is also home to multiple playing fields, including softball, baseball and football.

The sign was installed by the sports association at no cost to the school board.

According to Tim Caldwell, president of SFSA, the association received a Pepsi contract, and the scoreboards were donated by the Buffalo Rock Distributors. Caldwell said the playing fields will be used by seven football teams and approximately 455 children.

Currently, the sports association has a working arrangement with the BCBE in that they maintain the fields and equipment to make sure everything is in order to play ball, Wilhite said.

Football Commissioner Dan Watts said when the price of the park was first quoted it was estimated to cost about $1 million.

The park was built almost exclusively through volunteers and donations and the support of BCBE, he said.

“This is the first time that games can be hosted here,” Watts said.

Brian Weil, coach of a Spanish Fort team for children ages 9-10 said adding a scoreboard will make a “world of difference”.

“The bleachers were added two years ago and with the scoreboard, we will have a real field,” Weil said.

Dismukes said it is exciting for the kids to now be able to play home games in the park. It is volunteers, like Jimmy Connick, who has donated his labor to helping with the electricity, that has made the park nice for the children, Dismukes said.

He also said that the Spanish Fort community wants their children to have the best of everything. He hopes the children of Spanish Fort will, “take the ball and run with it,” he said.

Any improvements that the sports association makes requires prior school board approval.

In other school news:

• The school board voted to replace the lettering on the banner-style sign at Spanish Fort High School.

The 55-foot-wide banner-style sign was erected at the high school more than three years ago and has been a long-standing topic of concern for parents and school officials. The often gazed upon sign displayed uneven spacing between letters.

Terry Wilhite, director of communications for the school board, said the sign will be relettered to improve overall appearance. Spanish Fort High School Principal Michael Lucci said in a phone interview last week the new sign is going to be better than the previous sign, and he is pleased to have the lettering changed.

“The new design will include upper and lower case letters and the spacing will be uniform,” Lucci said.

According to Wilhite, CR Signs, Inc. of Bay Minette has been contracted to do the work. The letters will be paid for through capital funds, and will cost around $4,500 for the repair, Wilhite said. Ken Mason, who works with the school board’s planning and construction department, will coordinate the installation with the contracters.

(Baldwin Times editor Vicki Everett contributed to this article)