PORT TOWNSEND — The Memorial Field grandstand is ready for fans to cheer on their teams during a home game Monday.
Crews with Primo Construction of Carlsborg have been at work since Jan. 26 on the grandstand at 550 Washington St., which has been closed to the public since last May.
Jefferson County’s repairs and renovations are nearly complete, with the job coming in ahead of schedule and within the $365,839 projected budget.
Jefferson County personnel were aiming for an opening to coincide with the Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival, which is May 11-16, but the grandstand will open a little early, confirmed Jefferson County Commissioner Phil Johnson.
The grandstand will be used Monday night when the Port Townsend High School soccer team hosts Chimacum at 6 p.m.
The game will be preceded by a Senior Night ceremony at 5:45 p.m.
After a year, the athletes are glad to be back in a fully functional facility, said the district’s athletic director.
“We’ve been playing at Memorial for years. It’s our home field,” said Scott Wilson, who is Port Townsend High’s vice principal.
“It’s nice that we can play in the spot that we consider home.”
The field also will host Coupeville at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
It’s been a year since the city of Port Townsend condemned the county-owned grandstand after engineer Scott Headrick discovered structural instabilities in the roof beams.
He recommended its condemnation because of “degradation in the majority of structural members due to exposure to the salt air, rain water and lack of maintenance.”
The facility operated with rented portable grandstands during the football season, while the soccer team has used Chimacum’s regular field at H.J. Carroll Park as its home field.
Chimacum has played its home games behind the school in a switch that Wilson called “generous and helpful” on Chimacum’s part.
During the football season, Port Townsend fans used the visitor’s bleachers on the side opposite the grandstand.
Visitors were hosted in temporary bleachers that were placed on either side of the grandstand.
“It was a difficult situation, but we made it work,” Wilson said.
During the football season, a 30-foot wooden tunnel provided a protected path into the stadium from the front door, and access was also available through gates on either side of the field.
The tunnel has now been removed.
Jefferson County planner Gordon Ramstrom, who managed the project, said some electrical work is still needed.
He expects it to be completed by May 14, when the field will begin to host the carnival for the Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
