ANSONIA – Ansonia’s Nolan Field will be out of commission for the next five months, as the city gets started on a $10 million plan to renovate city fields.
Mayor David Cassetti’s administration put out an invitation March 4 for bidders to install new turf grass across Nolan Field and the adjacent practice fields. Cassetti said the work should be done in August, in time for next school year’s football season.
In the meantime, events that normally take place at Nolan Field – baseball games, high school graduations, etc. – will have to look elsewhere. Rock The Valley, an annual free music festival, has been canceled too, with plans to return in 2026.
Cassetti said the plan is to “phase” the work so that Nolan Field gets turfed in the spring, and the practice field only after Nolan Field is done. That way, spring sports can still use the practice field this year.
The turfing is part of $10 million in improvements approved by Ansonia voters in 2023 to rehabilitate four fields and parks throughout the city. Nolan Field is the centerpiece of that plan, with its planned improvements making up about 90 percent of the project’s budget.
The other three fields in the project – Abe Stone Park at Colony Pond, Nelligan Field, and the Ansonia Nature Center – have not yet had site plans approved by the Board of Aldermen.
At Nolan Field, the proposed improvements include the new turfed fields; two new basketball courts; four new tennis courts; LED lighting upgrades; new fencing around the fields; and upgrading the bleachers to be ADA-compliant.
The lighting and bleacher upgrades will be done this summer as part of the turfing work, according to Ansonia Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley. The basketball and tennis courts will come later and haven’t yet gone out to bid.
Summer Backup Plans
Ansonia High School hasn’t yet decided where graduation will be this year, according to principal Paul Giansanti – but plans should come soon.
Cassetti said he and cultural commission director Rich DiCarlo are working to fill a Rock The Valley-shaped void for the year. They plan to expand the city’s annual free summer concert series this year – bands to be featured include cover bands for The Doors and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cassetti said.
There will also be a ‘battle of the bands,’ although a date hasn’t been decided yet.
According to Cassetti, he and DiCarlo looked at the possibility of Warsaw Park hosting Rock The Valley, as well as the city-owned parking lot on West Main Street, but decided neither venue would be suitable.
He added that Rock The Valley may also have to find a new home in town going forward. The heavy stages and sets that go with the concert might put too much pressure on the new turf, he said.
The annual Ansonia-Seymour fireworks celebration – which normally happens at the same time as the Rock The Valley, in late August – will happen in mid-July this year. Cassetti said the fireworks will be launched from Fountain Lake.
Rock The Valley, in recent years, has dived into the world of hard rock and heavy metal, featuring tribute acts to Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Queen, among others. But next year? Cassetti said he’s thinking of taking things a bit more ‘old school.’
He said he’s been in touch with a California-based tribute act to The Doobie Brothers, the groovy, soul-influenced seventies rock band. Hair-metal-haters can relax a bit.
(Pictured below is a recent site plan provided by the city, showing the planned renovations.)
