Volunteers Play Key Role in New Turf Field

Lots of people like to give back to their communities, but few do it to the extent of Carl Sanders and Scott Corliss.

Those two are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of materials, supplies, equipment and time put in by them and their companies’ employees to help build the new multi-sport synthetic turf field at the Expo Center in Enumclaw.

And they aren’t wasting any time. Just last week the field didn’t look like it had changed much, but by this week all the grass was gone, and the ground was being domed.

“I don’t mess around,” Sanders said, adding that he will be done by the end of the month.

Another firm will start putting in the synthetic turf around Aug. 1 and be done about three weeks later. Good thing because Enumclaw High School’s football team hosts its first game on the new field Sept. 2 against Yelm.

Sanders said about 6,000 yards of dirt will be removed from the site at the King County Fairgrounds and 6,500 tons of rock brought in. They will put in about 4,000 feet of pipe, much of it for drainage, which historically has been a problem at the field.

Sanders has about seven pieces of equipment on site, and four employees, including NASCAR race car driver Kasey Kahne’s dad, Kelly, on a dozer. Corliss has three truck drivers and a loader on site this week.

Even though they just started tearing up the field last week, Sanders said they’ve been working on the project some for two months, renovating the bathrooms, and doing prep work for the scoreboard and goal posts. Other work includes a concrete curb, asphalt, parking, rockery and Americans with Disabilities Act ramps.

Sanders, who has four sons who play football, said it’s going to be “one of the best fields anywhere.”

Just this week the Enumclaw City Council accepted the final piece of the funding puzzle for the new field -- a $300,000 state grant. A $250,000 grant from the National Football League, and the volunteer work done by Sanders and Corliss make up the bulk of the rest of the cost.