July AIA-SWO Chapter Meeting Recap

Civic Stadium, Eugene: the view from the right field deck, July 23, 2009

We had a fantastic turnout for our annual AIA-SWO picnic shared with the Construction Specifications Institute, the National Association of Women in Construction, the Associated General Contractors, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. This year, the setting was Civic Stadium in Eugene, where sixty-one AIA, CSI, NAWIC, AGC, and ASLA members experienced a wonderful summer evening enjoying America’s pastime, good food, beer on tap, and each other's company. The hometown Eugene Emeralds baseball team hosted its Northwest League rivals, the Boise Hawks.

Alas, the Ems would not win the day, suffering a tough 2-6 loss to Boise. Nevertheless, Civic Stadium provided a nostalgic backdrop for the picnic from the vantage of the right-field deck. A substantial appeal of baseball is the uniqueness of each baseball park, which is as true for the hundreds of minor-league stadiums as it is for the most-storied major league venues. Regardless of its myriad shortcomings (such as inadequate accommodations for the physically disabled) Civic Stadium charmingly evokes a purer, more innocent time when baseball was celebrated for its traditions and values, untainted by today’s outsized egos and salaries, and the rampant use of banned-substances in the major leagues. Sentimentality is baseball’s dominant currency, and with its long history, Civic Stadium has become as much an object for remembrance as the exploits of the many players who have taken to its field since 1938. It currently is the eighth oldest minor league baseball park in the United States.

AIA-SWO, CSI, NAWIC, AGC, and ASLA members soak in the atmosphere at the old ballpark.

The 2009 season may be the last for the Emeralds at Civic Stadium. The word is that the team will relocate to the University of Oregon’s new PK Park in 2010. For many at our July picnic at Civic, it may have been a final opportunity to celebrate the rituals of the game in an irreplaceable structure resonant with its memories.

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Thanks again to our July 2009 program sponsor, Rubenstein’s, the Northwest’s leading source for commercial floor covering.

Rubenstein's has been actively engaged in the commercial floor covering industry for over 40 years. The company is one of the largest independent commercial floor covering dealers in the country. Rubenstein’s is a charter member of the Starnet® Worldwide Commercial Flooring Partnership, a member owned cooperative of the largest group of independent commercial floor covering dealers in the industry with over 160 member firms with 300 locations throughout North America.