Acworth's Horizon Field Celebrates 5th Anniversary Saturday

By Charlie M

On Saturday, April 12, Opening Day for the 2014 Baseball Season for the Horizon League will mark the 5th Anniversary for the Special Needs Horizon Field. 

The Horizon League provides children and young adults with developmental and physical disabilities the opportunity to participate in athletic events, develop lasting relationships among their peers, coaches and parents and demonstrate to them that they are an important part of their community by creating an environment of inclusion for both the participants and their families.

This baseball season the Horizon League will have 200 players on 18 teams and will be supported by hundreds of volunteers (Buddies). Buddies are the key to the success of this league and we want to say a special THANK YOU to all those involved and especially Day’s Chevrolet, Acworth Police Department, & Brookstone Women’s Club for their continued support.

In 2008 the city of Acworth and Community Leaders began the process of fundraising for a Special Needs Sports Facility that was inclusive to all athletes. The original fundraising goal was $1.2 Million. Through donations as small as $1, to anonymous contributions of $250,000 to public funding reaching $500,000, to several hundreds of thousands of dollars in kind services, to the community walking the bases for 24 hours straight to raise the funds, the facility officially opened it’s doors on April 16, 2009. Since then the facility has served more than 500 athletes each year.

This year, Opening Day will also include a special Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for recent improvements to the Horizon Playground located beside the Horizon Field at the Acworth Sports Complex.

A ribbon cutting will be held on opening day of the Horizon Baseball Spring Season, Saturday, April 12th at 10:30 a.m. at the Horizon Playground (4000 S. Main Street Acworth 30101). The playground additions will include three large shade canopies, a cozy cocoon, and a large web climber. Improvements would not be made possible without the funds raised by the Acworth Police Department’s Covering the Bases annual event.