Anyone that has been involved in outdoor sports in Esquimalt over the years knows that wet fields lead to cancellations from November to March and these shut-downs can take a full third out of soccer, football, rugby, field lacrosse, or field hockey season or schedule. At Ribfest, our dream has been to build a facility that will allow our kids and neighboring kids, to play in Esquimalt over the winter months for outdoor sporting games and practices. The three-phase project encompasses a turf field, community, multi-purpose field house, grandstand, lights, and neighborhood track/chip trail surface. The field will be made from state-of-the-art, environmentally safe, synthetic, all-weather material with the latest technology in direct focus, LED lighting. The multi-purpose field house will provide change rooms, showers, a gym/workout area for the school (the kids have worked out on the old stage since the 70s), an acoustically friendly music space for the jazz band, and space for all sorts of other community activities.

For six years now, Esquimalt Ribfest has been socking away money in trust with School District #61 harboring this dream. We are very excited to say we are now part of the ‘Es-Whoy-Malth Community Field Collaboration’ which is very fitting as Es-Whoy-Malth means ‘Place of Shoaling Waters’ and the EHS Field is built over a stream (now underground) that goes from Vic West all the way into the Gorge. This collaboration is led by the Songhees Nation and includes many local sporting organizations, the Township of Esquimalt, School District #61, the Esquimalt High School Alumni Association, and the Vancouver Island Aboriginal Thunder Rugby Club that, with the amazing help of Ribfest and our loyal support, has earmarked a whopping $330,000 as seed money for a major grant application.

We will be applying for funds from a large Federal/Provincial project and sincerely hope the collaborative nature of our partnership will give our application a good chance of victory.

Esquimalt is the only core Municipality where there is no wet weather outdoor field space so we are due and our kids deserve it!