Maine Event

Portland takes SI Sportstown honor for the Pine Tree State

By Andrew Schulman

Residents of Portland, Maine, have the best of both worlds. Even though they live in the state’s largest city, which boasts a metropolitan-area population of more than 265,000, they still enjoy a small-town atmosphere.

Thanks to the fine work of the Portland Department of Parks and Recreation, Portlanders are able to make use of sports facilities and programming that are usually only available to residents of "bigger" towns. These amenities, and the continued overall excellence of the Portland Department of Parks and Recreation, have earned the city the title of Sports Illustrated Sportstown for the state of Maine.

As you might expect, sports and recreation in Portland starts with the outdoors. Given the region's natural beauty, walking and hiking on one of the city’s many trails or strolling through the 60-acre Presumpscot River Preserve –- a beautiful parcel of land along the Presumpscot River located to the north of the city -- are popular pastimes.

“We have an active population that is always out on our trails, taking advantage of all that Portland has to offer,” says Denise Albert, Director, Portland Parks and Recreation. “And we are truly fortunate to have great organizations like Portland Trails to help keep our programming, facilities and natural parklands at their best.”

In addition to Portland Trails –- a 12-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to the upkeep and preservation of the city’s trails -– the Portland Parks and Recreation works with many other partner organizations, from Little League Baseball and Little Ladd Football to the Porpoise Swim Club and the Maine Senior Games.

Portland also has unique relationships with two of the area’s professional teams: the Portland Sea Dogs Class AA minor league baseball team and the Portland Pirates minor league hockey team. For the Sea Dogs, the department handles all of the maintenance and upkeep at Hadlock Field, the team’s stadium. The department also owns and manages the Pirates’ practice facility, the Portland Ice Arena, and is able to open it up to local groups and the public when it's not in use by the Pirates.

In 2003, the Department opened newly renovated Fitzparick Stadium, a multipurpose facility –- and the first in the Portland area to feature artificial turf. The stadium is used by schools, youth groups, semi-pro teams and others for football, soccer, lacrosse and a host of other sports. The 6,000-seat facility has also hosted all classes of the Maine state high school football championships for the last two years.

In addition to being one of the jewels of the Portland sports scene, “Fitzie,” as it is known locally, also holds great significance for the Department itself.

"Fitzpatrick was a tremendous success for this department," says Albert. "Its opening came at a time when we had been asked, due to economic reasons, to downsize the organization. But, thanks the hard work of our staff, we’ve continued to superbly maintain and manage our facilities and have actually increased participation in our programs. When you think about it, that’s a tremendous accomplishment and a tribute to our people.”

And that’s just one more reason that Portland deserves the title of SI Sportstown.