History

Before 1995 the home of Pirate Track and Field and Football was located behind Lincoln Elementary School. In 1995 the University of Minnesota Crookston redid their football field to include a track team that ended up not happening, but the University and Crookston Schools signed an agreement for Pirate Track/Field and Football to use Ed Widseth Field on the University campus. This has been a great partnership over the past 27 years but when the track was damaged in 2015 right as it was scheduled to host the next decade of Section 8 track meets the University decided they couldn't justify putting money into something they did not have.

After the 2020 season, the University of Minnesota Crookston discontinued their football program. With the uncertainty of what that would mean for Pirate Football, and the realization that since the school district didn't own the land/field on the University of Minnesota Campus, which means we can't spend Long Term Maintenance Funding (LTMF) money on the current facility, we'd have to spend general fund money which should go towards education. It was decided we needed to look into a facility on school district land that would meet the needs of Crookston students into the future.

A committee of community members came together in 2021 to discuss and plan what would be needed for the school district moving forward. It was determined that because of the need for the school district to own the field we should go to the voters to ask the community to help support a referendum for a new facility. During those discussions, it was determined by the committee that the surface should be artificial in order to support our fall and spring sports with a better/more durable surface during our unpredictable late fall and early spring seasons. And to allow Crookston High School to host its own track meets again, instead of hosting them in East Grand Forks.

On August 9th, 2022 the question was put out to the community if the school district should build a new athletic complex near the high school. This was needed as using the facilities at the University of Minnesota Crookston was not going to be sustainable for the long term. Unfortunately, it fell short by 9 votes. There were some things going against us, it was during the summer when people aren't thinking about school, and during a primary when all rural voters were mailed their ballots well before we had ramped up our efforts. We were in the middle of a change in leadership with the Superintendent, along with the Principal, and the Athletic Director at the high school. The goal this time is to win the referendum overwhelmingly to show the school that the community is behind them, and to show the tax base that it is a priority for our schools to have great facilities. To bring people in for contests but also to hopefully keep current residents and bring new residents/students to Crookston schools to expand our tax base.

To win the referendum this time we will need to do a much better job of getting information out to the public. We plan on doing this by having more people involved in the planning process and having that process play out during the school year so that people will be thinking about school when it is time to vote. Many hands make light work, so what we are going to be asking of you is to join in as much as you are comfortable/able to, come to our meetings to learn and share your ideas, talk to people in your circles, vote yes on February 14th, and together we can pass this referendum for our schools, our community, and most importantly our kids.