By Leslie Merchant
Looking for an adventure, a well-planned space to play sports, or just a nice place to bring the family? As Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz once said, “I know that if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire, I’ll never go any further than my own back yard.” The City of Lacey is hoping that locals will keep Dorothy’s words in mind when planning their next family outing or sporting escapade.
With so many destination choices in Western Washington, sometimes we overlook the obvious. Right in our own back yard sits one of the finest outdoor sporting venues in the state. Lacey’s Regional Athletic Complex (RAC) is a 100-acre facility that offers premium surfaces, cutting-edge systems, loads of family friendly amenities, and all weather fields for year-round play.
Sue Falash, RAC Facility Manager, has been with the City of Lacey for 23 years. She tells how the RAC opened in 2009 with the hope that the community park, athletic fields and synthetic turf would offer Washingtonians a place to play outdoors rain or shine. “From softball to soccer, dog shows to festivals, and three different glow in the dark fun runs, we want to open it up to everybody and bring other people in,” explains Falash.
Locals aren’t the only ones who enjoy the RAC. The facility is designed to appeal to teams and event planners from all over the Sound and beyond. Falash says, “We have brought variety in, like the National Labrador Dog Show last fall. We had people literally from all over the country that came out for the week.”
Falash is quick to point out that the RAC has amenities that most other facilities do not. “The thing we’ve got going for us is we kind of have everything,” explains Falash. “Tacoma and some of these other areas just don’t have the capacity to run the winter tournaments that we do.”
Rainouts are just not a problem thanks to the genius of the synthetic fields. “(Teams) know that they are going to get their games in and it’s an easy commute from many places,” says Falash. For teams from Grays Harbor, Bremerton, Centralia, Portland, and Seattle, the RAC is centrally located and an easy commute to boot.
Recreation Supervisor Sean Finney explains, “In the winter months we have youth soccer practicing on the in-fields because we have lights (and synthetic turf). It’s getting used all the time even when we don’t have baseball going on.”
Both Finney and Falash emphasize that the complex is super easy to work with, well maintained and available for a multitude of services and play. That being said, the RAC is pretty much booked out during the winter months. Advance planning is key if teams or event organizers are interested in taking advantage of the all weather complex. “We have two to five different groups requesting fields for tournaments, and we are only able to have one out here,” says Finney. The long-term plan is to turf more fields as funding becomes available.
A cursory glance of the activities offered at the RAC is astonishing. Rugby, Softball, All Night Tournaments, Junior College Fast Pitch, Senior Soft Ball, Dog Shows and the list goes on. The RAC is not just sports and kids, it is truly an all community facility.
For more information on planning an event or sporting adventure at the RAC, please visit their website.
