SWAMPSCOTT — The field is named for Cpl. John Enos Blocksidge, a 28-year-old enlistee who died during World War I on Sept. 2, 1918, two months before the Nov. 11 armistice was signed that ended the conflict.
Saturday, a little more than 99 years after his death, and a full century after the U.S. entered that war, a refurbished Blocksidge Field will be unveiled for the world to see.
Ground was broken for the $2 million refurbishment of the historic playing field — home to such luminaries as Dick Jauron, Mike Lynch, Billy Adams and Tom Toner as well as legendary football coach Stan Bondelevitch — in March. However, the push to modernize the facility, which dates back to the 1930s, began in 2012.
Swampscott Town Meeting pledged $1.65 million of that money to the project, and the other $300,000 was raised privately. And while all the bells and whistles won’t be in place by Saturday, the bulk of the project, as it was proposed more than five years ago, will be completed.
Ready for Saturday’s game will be an all-purpose turf field suitable for football, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse.
Oddly enough, for a field with such a celebrated football history, the Big Blue’s gridiron team will be not have the honor of being first up on the new field. That distinction belongs to the girls soccer team, which will play Monument High School of Western Mass. following Saturday’s dedication ceremonies. One week later, noon on Sept. 16, the Big Blue football team will kick off against Triton.
Blocksidge will open Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with field access and activities. Dedication ceremonies are slated to open at 1:30, during which all of those instrumental in the planning and implementation of the project will be publicly thanked. The soccer game will begin at 3 p.m.
In place for Saturday’s opener will be the new turf, and new bleachers and a new press box. The footing for the lights has been poured, but money is still needed to construct them. Department of Public Works director Gino Cresta hopes to have those in place by the spring.
As it stands now, no bleachers are planned for the visitors’ side of the field. That, Cresta said, is due to financial constraints, but also because the presence of new seats on the Phillips Park side of the field could crowd the junior varsity baseball field, Cresta said.
“The stands take up the same amount of room from end to end as they did before,” said Cresta, “but they run a couple of rows deeper, so there will be more capacity.”
The town is also planning some logistical changes. Gone is the Humphrey Street entrance to the field. In its place will be a landscaped roadway for team buses to drop off and pick up. The fan entrance will be on Bondelevitch Way on the same side of the field as the stands.
Also, part of the back lot will be paved, Cresta said.
Cresta also said an extra $200-$250,000 will be needed to erect and install the lights.
“Fundraising has already begun for that,” he said, “so we may have already raised some of that money.”
Beyond the lights, another long term goal is to build a new concession stand on the far end of the field, opposite Humphrey Street. That, too, is a matter of more fundraising, he said.
“We hope,” Cresta said, “that when people see how beautiful the facility already is, it’ll encourage the fundraising we need to complete the project.”
