Last week at Oliphant Street Field (a.k.a. The Little Rose Bowl), the stadium lights, installed over 40 years ago, were replaced with incredible new lights from MUSCO.
The new lights provide a tremendous upgrade to Oliphant Street Field and will make West Branch Football Friday nights even more special.
"It's a real positive thing," said Head Coach Butch Pedersen. "It will be a better environment for people to watch games on Friday nights. They'll be able to see the field better. And in addition, it will be saving the school district money. Running the old lights was extremely costly."
The old set of lights had been causing color and vision issues for both players and fans the last several years.
"It's a tremendous indication that our current administration wants to be proactive with our athletic facilities and try to keep up with surrounding districts' facilities. I really want to give Kevin Hatfield (Superintendent of West Branch Schools) and the whole administration a ton for credit for encouraging the school board for getting the project together."
Fans' first chance to check out the new lights will be on August 22nd as the Bears host Meet the Team Night at the Little Rose Bowl.
In addition to the new lights, a few other renovations will be happening this Summer at the field in preparation of the upcoming season. The press box will be receiving some interior upgrades with new flooring and fresh paint. Money to fund the press box upgrades came from the football players' fundraising efforts this off season.
The Bears play their first home game of the season on September 12th against West Burlington-Notre Dame. This home game is also the first-annual Throwback Game as the Bears will be sporting purple jerseys in celebration of prior West Branch Football squads.
More information on the Throwback Game can be found here. Some photos from the installation of the lights: