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Community support for permanent lights at high school praised

The Avon High football prepares for Friday night’s game against Tolland. It was the first football game under the new permanent lights around the high school field.

AVON, October 15, 2021 – The lights around the synthetic turf field at Avon High were installed last spring and the games under the lights began shortly afterward. A ceremony to acknowledge and celebrate the successful completion of project was scheduled for early September but it was delayed when the football team’s game was delayed due to exposure to COVID-19.

But those that worked so hard couldn’t let an opportunity to thank the residents of Avon for their support of the project slip away.

Local officials held a brief ceremony at halftime of Friday night’s football game between Avon and Tolland in front of a few hundred fans thanking residents for their support of the $380,048 initiative to install permanent lights around the field.

ACORN (Avon Community Recreation Neighborhood), a non-profit community organization dedicated to investing in resources to enhance recreation in town, presented the town with a donation of $145,048 to put toward installation of the lights in early February.

The remaining $235,000 for the project came from approximately $465,000 that the town received in 2020 as a sales premium from the bond that the town took out to pay for the construction of the turf field and eight-land track and field complex.

Heather Maguire, chair of the Town Council, center, chats with members of ACORN after Friday night’s halftime ceremony during the Avon and Tolland football game.

In December 2018, town voters approved in a referendum the construction of a $2.99 million eight-land track and field complex and synthetic turf field outside of Avon High. Lights to illuminate the playing field were not included in the proposal but work to install conduit and light pole fixtures was included as part of the project. The track and field complex and the new field was built in 2019. Games at the complex began in September 2019.

Individual and family donations from 420 households in town brought in more than $140,000 to ACORN for their “Lights on Avon” campaign, according to ACORN officials and town officials.

In previous years, games were played under temporary lights run by diesel generators parked around the field.

“This is a perfect example of a public/private partnership and how the community and town government to work together to make great things happen,” said Heather Maguire, the Republican chair of the Town Council. “This is how it should be done. Thank you to the Avon community. These lights are a testament to your generosity and support.”

Susan Rietano Davey, president of ACORN who helped coordinate the Lights on Avon fundraising campaign, praised the Avon community for their support. Half of the donations came from families whose children are no longer a part of the school system

“This kind of broad support that made this project possible (was done) by people who wanted to do right by the community, even if it didn’t benefit them or their families,” she said. “We had very few large donations. We had no corporate sponsors. We didn’t qualify for any grants because we were applying during a pandemic. So this campaign was made possible by all of you. We thank all of you for making this possible.”

Some members from ACORN attended Friday night’s football game. From left, Joe Pavano, Jim Stapleton, Matt Woods, Susan Rietano Davey, Lauren Magel, Town Council chair Heather Maguire and Louisa Hogan.

Brandon Robertson, the Town Manager, was praised along with the town staff, the members of ACORN and members of the Recreation and Park committee that worked on the turf field project that began in 2013.

Along with track and field competitions, football, field hockey, boys soccer, girls soccer, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse can be played on the turf field.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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