Lindsay Olive bowl park multi-million dollar renovation underway

LINDSAY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Generations of people have gathered at the Lindsay Olive Bowl to play sports.

Baseball, softball, soccer and football just to name a few.

Marshall Chairez grew up in Lindsay and took us down a nostalgic memory lane.

"A lot of great memories.. A lot of memories." Marshall continues, "Tons of stories, tons of history. I'm sure I'm not the only one that shared this patch of dirt with their siblings and their dads."

But the park, is mostly dirt now as demolition begins.

"I'm excited to see what this is gonna look like when it's done," says Marshall.

It's part of Lindsay's $10.5M renovation project, made possible by grants and some American Rescue Plan funds.

The plan includes improvements in three phases.

First, the ballpark and community basketball court.

Phase two is the parking lot and lastly is Kaku Park.

"It's always a proud moment when you see something as large as this project take place. It did take 4 years," says Armando Da Silva, who is the Recreation Services Director City of Lindsay.

Everything is almost torn down..

But still standing is the Iconic Olive shaped scoreboard, "That's always near and dear to us," says Marshall.

It can't tell the score anymore.. But it tells many stories...dating back to the 19-70s..

"The high school actually played their football games many moons ago," recalls Marshall.

The demolition is bittersweet for Marshall..

"Change is inevitable and nothing lasts forever so this park was in dire need of renovations and I'm grateful and thankful for the people that made this possible," Marshall expresses.

He, like many, are looking forward to the stories yet to be written by the generations to come.

Renovations to the Lindsay Olive Bowl, or Phase 1, should be complete by Fall of 2025.

When that happens everyone will be invited to come out here and celebrate.