'A feather in our cap': 'Field of Dreams' recreated in Manitoba

Clearwater -

A hamlet with a population of fewer than 70 residents has successfully brought people back in time to 1989 - the setting, a ‘Field of Dreams’ carved out of cornfields.

"All you can see is corn, so it’s like you’re in an oasis of baseball heaven," said Joe Gardiner, a farmer in Clearwater.

Rallying around Gardiner and his friends, the community built a 10-acre ballpark and Mother Nature let them live out their baseball dream.

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"I think you could do this 999 years out of 1,000 and not get the weather that we had this year," Gardiner said.

"We put down this grass seed, about 20 minutes after we got it down it just poured and we got two inches of rain that night, six inches of snow," said Jace Guilford, who is studying agriculture at the University of Manitoba.

"That's the biggest thing that Joe and I keep saying is the universe wanted this to happen."

Darcy Stewart’s family allowed Gardiner to rent up to 10 acres of land needed for the baseball diamond that would otherwise be used for planting corn. Fields of corn can be seen here on Sept. 10, 2024. (Joseph Bernacki/CTV News Winnipeg)

What started as drawing baseball diamonds on vacation, turned into reality for Gardiner and Guilford by the mid-May growing season.

The passion project was a love letter to Field of Dreams, the Hollywood cinematic starring Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and Ray Liotta in small-town Iowa. The film is celebrating its 35th anniversary.

After doing research, Gardiner believes his community was the first in North America to take on this vision – in real life that is.

"When Jace and I started this project, I thought, 'the Internet will have instructions on how to build a baseball diamond in a cornfield'," Gardiner said as he laughed.

"Major League Baseball did two of them on the site of the Field of Dreams but no one has been crazy enough to do this, which I guess is a feather in our cap."

Darcy Stewart thought his friend was crazy but agreed to build the diamond on his family’s farm.

"The most stressful part about the whole thing is knowing that many people are going to see it at the end of the day, we didn't want to make a mistake or have something that would show up months later because you don't know when you're planting what it's going to look like," Stewart said.

"By the time the 1st of July came around, the vision was starting to come, you could see it looking like a baseball diamond," Gardiner said.

The ballpark is surrounded by Stewart’s corn stretching over nine feet in the air, some of the tallest crops in the area.

The large sign with the inscription 'If you build it,' can be seen here at the entrance to the baseball field on Sept. 10, 2024. (Joseph Bernacki/CTV News Winnipeg)

Over the weekend, the Field of Dreams event was held in support of the Clearwater Foundation.

Three teams made up of 15 players from all parts of the province including the Border Baseball League saw and experienced the end result on the field after months of hard work.

The games attracted over 800 people to cheer on their friends in a setting that was described as second to none.

"All you could hear behind you was this gentle buzz of excitement, like this atmosphere that you just cant recreate," Stewart said.

"It’s entrenched into our culture here."

"It was unreal, it was better than we could have anticipated, all the smiling faces around, felt really, really good and I definitely left with a happy heart," said Karly Marion, project manager of the event.

A baseball bat along with a glove and ball used by Gardiner seen at home plate on Sept. 10, 2024. (Joseph Bernacki/CTV News Winnipeg)

Over $60,000 was raised for the Clearwater Foundation. Gardiner’s uncle Scott, who serves as president of the foundation said the experience was phenomenal and will give the community a financial boost for years to come.

"I mean, it's getting harder and harder to keep rural facilities upgraded and that's what we're going to use it for is to try and keep some of our facilities here in top-notch condition, to my knowledge," Scott Gardiner said.

As the dust settled on home plate, Gardiner said the Field of Dreams event is a one-off. It was so special it would be tough to duplicate.

Baseball fans however can still come to the community’s annual tournament on July 1. It’s been a source of pride and joy for Clearwater for 73 years and counting.

"We put two campfires out here, the band was playing, it was the perfect end to the absolute perfect day," Joe Gardiner said.

"(Jace and I) just looked at each other and said, 'There is no way that you could top today.'"