Late last year, the City of Bridgeport’s highly acclaimed Recreation Complex received yet more recognition. During the annual West Virginia Recreation and Park Association annual conference that was held in November at the nearby Stonewall Jackson State Park.

 

During the conference, the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation received the Austin C. Palmer Outstanding Facility Award in the state. And the honor went to the Bridgeport Recreation Complex.

 

“It’s always an honor to be recognized by your peers around the state,” said Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Joe Shuttleworth. “The complex has received many accommodations and has been very successful in terms of local community use, but also it’s been a driving factor as an economic development tool.”

 

That’s been the case since the grand opening was held in April of 2012. Bridgeport invested more than $8 million into the complex situated off of State Route 131 in property nestled inside the Charles Pointe development. The initial outdoor venue consisted of the wagon wheel baseball complex and a multipurpose field for soccer and football use.

 

This past year, more development has been done on the facility. The northern land bay is being developed into additional youth baseball fields that will tie into an additional youth soccer-related, multi-purpose field.  

 

The fields have seen tons of usage. From April into September, the complex hosts dozens of tournaments, hundreds of teams and thousands of players from the local area, West Virginia and multiple state throughout the region. In the last two years, high school and college cross country meets, which have drawn massive crowds, have been added to the mix.

 

“The complex has been a driving factor as an economic development tool. The tournaments, the cross country meets and things that bring people to our community are resulting in quality events and those visitors spending money while they’re here. It has a tremendous benefit to the local economy,” said Shuttleworth.

 

In order to be considered for the honor of the top facility in West Virginia, Shuttleworth submitted an application in mid-August. The application included the history of the facility, a breakdown of each component at the facility as well as a look at ongoing and future developments.

 

“Certainly it’s nice to be recognizes, but what it really important is that it played in perfectly with the role of the annual conference,” said Shuttleworth. “You learn a lot of things while there from what others are doing and this was a case where we had a lot of people asking us about the complex after the presentation of the award.”
 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Joe Shuttleworth, left, and Parks Director Don Burton. Bottom photo, courtesy of D-Max Photography, shows the early Rec Complex, which has since had several additions and modiifcations.