Kraft Field

Exterior of Kraft Field, Jul-2021.

A simple seating bowl is in evidence.

The infield received artificial turf in 2011.

• Location: 25th Street at 17th Avenue South, Grand Forks, N.D. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: Before 1956
• Home team: Grand Forks Varmints, Prairie League (1996-97)
• Capacity: 2,000 (approx.)

I had visited in the late summer of 2010 and the entire infield had been torn apart. It turns out that this was a project spearheaded by the university to outfit the infield with artificial turf. The outfield remains grass. The stadium itself is also rather bare-bones, with aluminum bleachers in the main grandstand and no chair-back seating. The field also faces southwest, directly opposite the usual configuration.

Over the years, several other teams, including two high school programs, have made the field their home. Additionally, for two years, the independent Prairie League had a team playing here. Most recently, the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks, a college summer league team displaced from their usual home in Brandon, Man., by border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, took up residence here for 2021. There is talk both of further renovations to the park in order to draw a long-term college summer league tenant.