A Newly Accessible 'Treasure'

The Arcata Ball Park got a much needed makeover expanding access to Crabs games for those with mobility challenges this spring, and it’s thanks largely to a huge Crabs fan in a high place.

North Coast state Sen. and Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire announced that he’d secured $1 million in state funding to overhaul the ballpark façade and make the park compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act back in 2022. After a frenzied push to get the place ready for the Crabs’ May 30 opener (some say cement was still being poured a couple days before the first pitch of the season, while others say work continued until about 45 minutes before gates opened), McGuire sounded like a fan at heart when asked by the Journal what prompted him to secure the bulk of the construction funds.

“A North Coast original for over 80 years, Humboldt Crabs baseball is full of family fun,” he said. “Nothing says summer like Crabs baseball. When the beloved downtown Arcata stadium needed accessibility work and a facelift, it was an honor to work with the city and Crabs to secure $1 million in state funding for modernization improvements. This is an investment that all of Humboldt will experience and enjoy for decades to come.”

Humboldt Crabs Board Member Matt Filar says it’s no secret the ballpark has needed accessibility work and a facelift “for a long, long time,” but says to his knowledge no one made an official request or plea for the state funding. Rather it seems McGuire and his staff, who hold an annual barbecue event at the ballpark and are Crabs fans, simply identified the need and took it upon themselves to address it.

“We always felt it would be really nice to do it,” Filar says. “But we didn’t ask anyone to do it. As far as I know, Mike McGuire just decided to do it.”

Filar says in addition to aesthetic improvements, the project reduced the pitch of an entry ramp to make it safe and ADA compliant, added ADA access to the park’s left field area and installed emergency lighting throughout the park that will keep fans safe in the event of a power outage. He says the organization is very happy with the (almost) finished product. (An ordered entry gate has yet to arrive and some landscaping still needs to be done.)

“It’s beautiful. It’s really nice,” he says, adding that it got rave reviews from many of the more than 1,200 people in attendance on opening night. “It’s a block off the plaza and it’s a showcase for the city of Arcata.”

City Manager Merritt Perry says the city would up contributing about $785,000 to the project from its open space fund, parks and trails special tax, recreation fees and general fund reserves, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the state support. Perry says he loves the way the façade looks — with two brick columns forming an entryway under a metal arch with the words “Arcata Ball Park Home of the Humboldt Crabs” cut out — but the accessibility improvements are most exciting.

“Whenever you can make a treasure like the Arcata Ball Park more accessible to everyone, the better,” he says.