IF WE build it, they will come - a line from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams but could easily be used within the real life circumstances of Boonah’s Teviot Park.
In the movie Kevin Costner’s character Ray Kinsella is inspired to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield and while such fields exist all around the Fassifern, the place a modern day ‘it’ will be built is within Boonah’s showgrounds.
Perhaps Kevin Costner’s counterpart in this context would be Teviot Park’s project committee leader Phil Gutzke.
Mr Gutzke has been working alongside other members of the new development’s committee to turn a dream into reality.
If you ask him what he expects this development to bring to Boonah he’ll tell you there is no real limit to what can be done and that’s the way it’s designed.
Motocross, equestrian events, all manner of shows and sporting competitions will be able to be held comfortably.
The federally funded Olympic sized equestrian and events facility is expected to seat 2,850 people with ramps and accesses points designed to cope with a high volume of spectators.
The first sod was turned in May before media, politicians and members of the Boonah community.                                                                                                                                       Now nearly three months later, structural engineering plans have begun to bear fruit with its massive overhead roofing in place and ground hollowed out and prepped for the next stage.
Mr Gutzke showed The Fassifern Guardian the progress at Teviot Park with the enthusiasm of a first time father.
“We did our engineering assessments on the final riding surface and found a few soft spots...so we are managing that to get a really good base,” he said.
“We have some remedial work underway and trenches are being inspected by council, then backfilled.
“The earthmoving guys will then do the final trim and level the ground so the riding base is nice and firm.”
He said 110 high bay lights will go through the centre of the stadium’s roofing.
“The lighting is all modern technology, low energy led lighting with the ability to be communicated with remotely in order to dim during shows,” he said.
“A lot of showgrounds do things without a power plan, we have put in a lot of work to build capacity in everything we do in terms of supplying power for camping, food vans, canteens, bars and all that sort of thing.
“We will have the power and redundancy there to be able to support what happens here well into the future.”
Creating the outdoor arena comes with its challenges due to the makeup of its earthy surface.
“It is a bit of a Tetris puzzle or like playing a game of chess,” he said.
“We have pre planned and benefited a lot by following what Scone have done.
“But this is a massive sandpit and the ultimate surface is sand – but the problem with that is it gets dusty.
“We have a sprinkler system going for dust abatement and are also able to change the surface by rolling it and will do this when needed for things like equestrian events and cutting competitions.”
He said now the roofing was up electricians particularly would benefit as rainy days won’t prevent them from working.
Speakers and the sound system have been installed and the acoustics are ‘exceptional’.
There will be a control centre on the lefthand side of Teviot Park where sound and lighting will be controlled by show technicians.
“What we need is for members of the community to put up their hands and volunteer to help out with events that will be held at Teviot Park,” he said.
“This is a stadium built using local companies and we’d like it if the community got involved in how it’s run.”
Teviot Park is expected to open early 2024.