WHBF – OurQuadCities.com

Field of Dreams plans grow bigger in Dyersville

DYERSVILLE, Iowa —  Local leaders in Dubuque County have launched a plan to build a stadium at the Field of Dreams near Dyersville. The Dubuque County Board of Supervisors voted to give $5 million in Cares Act funds to construct a stadium around the Major League Baseball field.

The City of Dyersville also has chipped in $1 million toward the $50 million project. The money will be raised before any construction can begin.

“You know we got together and go how can we really take that energy and all of that positive momentum and put that towards our structure that we can use year-round,“ said Keith Rahe, of Travel Dubuque. “We’re not creating for major-league baseball they’ve not asked us about before that we’re not doing that, we’re creating this for all the other activities that we can do there with that beautiful diamond.”

“We will own the stadium that surrounds the field, we will lease the ground from Go The Distance, that the stadium is built upon, a long term lease,“ said Jaque Rahe, of Dyersville Economic Development.

The Field of Dreams movie site will not be affected by the new stadium.  The stadium itself will be a year-round attraction with conventions and meetings held in the stadium with the beautiful field all lit up.

“We really do feel that the stadium will get to a point where because the destination in and of itself,” said Keith. “Another reason to attract people to the region and really take me to showcase what we have here.”

“The population is aging a bit, I’m from, from 33 years ago,” said Jaque. “Obviously, so we wanted to make sure that Field of Dreams was not lost on the younger generation.”