Photo Credit: Courtesy Tim Phillips, City of Lewisville
Whether spectators are watching their kids play games or participants are seeking cool comfort between games, most everyone appreciates shaded areas around sporting facilities. And with a growing awareness of health issues such as skin cancer and heat stroke, shade structures are becoming more numerous.
Synthetic materials such as high-density polyethylene mesh (HDPE) are used in most fabric shade structures today, making them resistant to tears and fading while blocking up to 96 percent of the sun’s harmful UV rays. The latest structures are water-resistant and designed to bear significant wind or snow loads. In addition, fabric shade structures do something solid-roofed structures cannot—they breathe. HDPE fabric is permeable, so hot air rises and passes through it, creating air circulation that reduces the temperatures beneath the structures by as much as 30 percent. These structures also offer many shade-design options that allow cities the opportunity to create a “signature look” for facilities.
Value-Added Shade
Cities have found that providing shaded facilities increases overall visitation to a venue while attracting tournaments and other special events. Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park in Lewisville, Texas, is a multi-use sports facility that opened recently. The 274-acre complex features eight lighted soccer fields with hybrid turf and bleacher seating; four football fields with scoreboards; four baseball/softball fields with 400-foot outfield fences; three concession buildings with covered patios; three man-made lakes; a 1.5-mile walking trail; the city’s first skate park; and the city’s first dog park. Construction took just over a year and cost $20 million, making it the largest capital project in the city’s history. It was paid for through a dedicated quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters for library and park projects. The city has already benefited financially, first with the naming rights, a 10-year, $1.5-million deal with Toyota of Lewisville. The city’s Parks & Leisure Services Director, Bob Monaghan, notes that the facility has also been successful in attracting people from the sports tourism industry as well as other out-of-town visitors. “At the end of our first year, we saw an increase of 5,000 room-nights related to activities in the park,” he says.