BEATRICE – The home diamond of the Beatrice Lady Orange Softball team at Hannibal park, now has a new name….Kiwanis Field.
"Kiwanis Field received its name, because of a generous donation from the Kiwanis Club of Beatrice...a 40-member club who today, is 100 years old. Without their generous donation, some of these repairs may or may not have been possible, so we certainly thank them for what they do."


Mayor Stan Wirth spoke at a ribbon-cutting at the field during high school competition, Thursday night….where the Beatrice, Norris and Wymore Southern/Diller-Odell Schools were playing. Wirth said the park and newly named ballfield….one of several at Hannibal Park….represent an economic driver for the community in the area of recreation.


Roger Harris of the Beatrice Kiwanis Club said a lot of remodeling took place at the new field….the organization working with Beatrice Public Properties Director Mark Pethoud and his department to make it happen.


"Our Kiwanis Club was looking for something to represent our 100 years of service to Beatrice and surrounding communities...specifically, our mission to help youth. We were having a heck of a time coming up with an appropriate project that we felt would benefit the community. We finally talked to Mark Pethoud, God bless him...he does a lot of work around here for our parks to make them presentable and usable for our kids. Mark came up with this idea as well as some other ones. Our club took it on and said yes, we're going to do this and we agreed to donate $40,000 to put it over the top....and it's now going to be known as Kiwanis Field."


Several members of the local club attended the dedication and ribbon-cutting along with the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce and members of the local Key Club, who partner with Kiwanis.


It was a successful day on Kiwanis Field for the Beatrice Lady Orange, shutting out Southern-Diller/Odell 8-0…and defeating Norris, 6-4.