Originally constructed in 1976, Terrace Brier Soccer Club has been using Evergreen Playfield #1 for decades to host games and practices. Though it was a dirt field, it had lighting for those October/November evenings when lit fields were in extremely short supply. The alternative was to rent portable gas-powered lights for fields (which the club also did on a few occasions). However, our old "sand lot" had been deteriorating over the years and wasn’t in any condition for games or practices anymore.

For multiple years, the club was close to receiving a donation of sod from the Seattle Sounders after playing a friendly match with a European team (they would install grass because the visiting team would not play on turf). Unfortunately, the program was discontinued before our names came up on the list.

So, the field sat, underused and undermaintained, until February 2020 when the Mountlake Terrace City Council approved a $1.4 million contract to reconstruct the field to install synthetic turf and new lighting.

The project would include grading of the current dirt field, demolition, and removal of the two diamond backstops and playfield fencing. It also would involve removal of up to 10 trees, construction of new light standards, installation of new lights, construction of new ADA sidewalks and installation of new backstops and dugout concrete slabs, fencing and synthetic turf with a fiber infill.

The cost of the project would be covered by a $1 million grant from the Verdant Health Commission, a $350,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation Conservation Office — both received by the city in 2018 — and a $50,000 donation from Terrace Brier Soccer Club. Construction began the following year, in January 2021.

Within a few months, the field began to take shape and the community was getting antsy with the anticipation of a nearing completion date.

Participating in a June 9,2021 ribbon cutting ceremony for the new turf installed on Evergreen Playfield, from left: Recreation Conservation Funding Board Member Kathryn Gardow, Verdant Health Commission Superintendent Lisa Edwards, Verdant Board of Commissioners Secretary Jim Distelhorst, Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright, 1st Legislative District Representative Shelley Kloba, and Terrace Brier Soccer Club President Carl Middleton.

The field has been well-used since it’s opening including the club’s fall and spring seasons, select clubs, baseball, and community pick-up games.


 

For field reservation and information contact the Mountlake Terrace Athletics Department at 425-640-3105.