Frontier Fields hits it out of the park and officially opens for student athletes
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IDAHO FALLS — Frontier Fields, the new “Home of the Tigers,” was officially unveiled to the public in a grand opening ceremony on Monday evening.
The Idaho Falls High School baseball team pitcher Logan Whiting, a senior, has invested major sweat equity with his teammates, coaches and other volunteers to transform the field into a reality.
“My team and I were out here a ton. I laid most of the fence line with a couple other guys,” he said. “We all laid the sod.”
For decades, baseball and football teams have practiced and drilled in the retaining pond next to the high school.
“It’s just nice that after all the work that we put into this, we have a spot that we can play on now and practice on, versus the drainage pit and the gym,” Whiting said. “It’s a nice change.”
Local businesses donated many of the materials required to make the complex a reality, and the Booster Club raised approximately $750,000 in cash and in-kind contributions.
Currently, the complex includes a regulation softball field and a completed baseball diamond with turf.
“We’ll have a home-field advantage,” Whiting said. “Instead of being at Tautphaus Park, we’re on our home field. The turf is super nice. It plays true every time, and it lasts a lot longer than the dirt that’s gonna get muddy. We can play pretty much in any condition.”
In May, Frontier Credit Union signed a $3 million, 40-year naming rights agreement with the district to help provide the funding needed to further develop the sporting facility. The collaboration represents the largest private-public partnership in district history.
“When we first saw this project, … we came out to this field, and we saw what had already been built,” Frontier Credit Union CEO and President Dan Thurman said, highlighting the baseball players who served to build the field. “We heard the stories about the students laying sod, building fence and digging trenches and putting in blood, sweat and tears. … We’re so grateful for all the work that you’ve put in, and we’re just excited to see this project come to completion.”
The athletic complex has been five years in the making.
On Monday, the district recognized Lisa Burtenshaw, Heather Thompson, Steve Hunter, Brandon Lee and Trent Johnson, who were instrumental in realizing the vision for a new sporting facility.
The district was first approached by parents with plans for a complex in October 2020, and the board of trustees approved $2 million for “permitting, engineering the site plan, excavation, irrigation, parking lots and road improvements on 49th South,” EastIdahoNews.com reported previously.
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Three years later, Hunter, the IFHS Football Booster President, reached out to Frontier Credit Union in September 2023 to ask for a $10,000 donation. However, the credit union’s leadership was so impressed by students’ involvement and the previous donations from the community, that they decided to significantly up their contribution.
When it is completed, Frontier Fields will feature two soccer fields, two football practice fields, two baseball fields, two softball fields and eight tennis courts.
“It will create a premier sports facility for schools throughout the region and really the state,” LaOrange said. “There will be teams coming here for state tournaments. To see all of that come together just is really invigorating and a reminder of what an incredible community Idaho Falls is and how excited we are for Idaho Falls High School.”
More than a hundred students, athletes, parents, coaches, teachers and school administrators gathered at the complex for Monday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, games, activities and food.
IFHS softball and baseball teams have already practiced and held games at Frontier Fields. The soccer team will join them in fall 2025. Football practice fields should also be ready, providing sports facilities for both Grid Kid and high school athletes.
“You’ll start seeing scoreboards and (additional) fields. Eventually, there’ll be a bathroom facility and a place to sell concessions,” Idaho Falls School District 91 Superintendent Karla LaOrange said. “Down the road, the dream is that there’ll be a student center where they can do homework and have some place to change. Hopefully, there’ll be a school eventually.”
The district is currently evaluating how it utilizes its facilities, a 12- to 18-month project that will include input from members of the community.
“This is kind of ‘you build it, and they will come,’” LaOrange siad. “I hope people see the possibility of what we are trying to do. We are trying to give our students a safe place and a really inviting place for them to come — one that really meets the needs of 21st Century teaching.”
In the meantime, the students and fans at Monday’s ribbon cutting are eager to take Tiger athletics to the next level at Frontier Fields.
“Kids need sports. They bring out the best in kids. They keep kids engaged. They keep kids graduating,” booster mom Heather Thompson said. “It’s going to bless a lot of lives, and the Tigers are going to have a place to call home.”
