FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 2, 2025

Mayor Noble Announces Dietz Stadium Open House on Saturday, May 3, 2025

KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is pleased to announce that, in celebration of the completion of the $22 million renovation project at the Robert H. Dietz Memorial Stadium, the City of Kingston and partners will host an Open House on Saturday, May 3, 2025.

The Open House event will begin at 1:00pm on Saturday, May 3, and will include a look inside the grandstand interiors at the new locker rooms and other amenities, a ribbon cutting at 1:30pm, and Hole in the Wall Donuts’ food truck will be on site.

Mayor Noble said, “Though Dietz was open to the public in September and in time for Kingston High School’s first home football game, we will officially cut the ribbon on this expansive project in May. Our contractors continued to work through the fall and winter, completing the interior work in the grandstand, planting trees and final landscaping, and installing Wi-Fi. We know that many in the community have already been enjoying the improvements at the Dietz complex, and we invite the rest of the community to join us for an open house to check out the renovation. At the event, we will be joined by our partners at the Kingston City School District, the contractors, and elected officials to welcome all back to Dietz Stadium. We look forward to another 100 years of this complex as being a valued asset to our community.”

Dr. Paul J. Padalino, Kingston City School District Superintendent said, “We are incredibly thankful to our community for supporting the renovations of the new state of the art Dietz Stadium, which is a tremendous asset to both KCSD and the City of Kingston. KCSD students have already been making great use of the stadium and we look forward to making more memorable moments here. This joint project is an example of effective intermunicipal cooperation, and we are grateful to work collaboratively with the City of Kingston for generations to come.”

“The benefits of the Dietz Stadium renovations have already begun --and will only continue to -- bring a different life and energy to Uptown Kingston,” said Elenie Loizou, owner of Dietz Stadium Diner. “The various activities that the stadium will host bring visitors to our community and into the businesses Uptown. We, as a City and as Kingstonians, welcome everyone with the hope that they will continue to visit Kingston in the future. The energy at the stadium has been missed and we are all so excited it’s back!”

The Dietz Stadium improvements included:

• Exterior renovations of the grandstand, including improved ADA access, a 50-yard line access tunnel to the locker rooms, new benches, and press box upgrades

• Interior renovations of the grandstand, including upgrades to the restrooms, new locker rooms, new mechanical/ electrical services, coaches offices, training room, and improved storage facilities

• New track surfacing, new turf field, and new LED stadium lighting

• New scoreboard with large screen broadcasting

• All new underground utilities: water, sewer, storm, electric & communications

• Removal of the old concession building and admin building and construction of a new 100’ x 36’ open-air pavilion with food truck hook-ups, concession booth, and referee locker room

• Visitor side concession area with two restrooms

• Expanded grassed practice area with a track & field equipment storage building

• New gated ticket booth grandstand entrance

• Bus parking at stadium entrance, new parking lots with green infrastructure

• Improved access loop road and sidewalks around the stadium

• Two-way access/egress to Hurley Avenue as well as Joys Lane

• Relocated basketball court with benches and lighting

• Pedestrian access/egress walk to Joys Lane near Kingstone Insurance

• New stadium perimeter fencing

• Improved Wi-Fi and security cameras

• Landscaping, including 120+ new trees

Saturday, May 3, also marks the return of the Kingston Stockade Football Club to the stadium. After two years of playing at Marist University, the Stockade FC will have their first home game at Dietz Stadium on May 3, 2025, at 6:30pm. The full schedule can be found at https://www.stockadefc.com/.

The Dietz Stadium Improvements Project was kick-started with $2.5 million from the City of Kingston’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative award which helped create the Dietz Stadium Master Plan and designs as well as funding portions of Phase 1, such as the Andretta Pool Improvements and the installation of a new splash pad. The City of Kingston received two New York State grants for green infrastructure improvements to the parking lot and surrounding drive, $1.5 million from the Environmental Facilities Corporation and $1 million from the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Contractors for the Dietz Stadium project included OCS Industries, Inc. (Poughkeepsie, NY), Darlind Associates, Inc. (LaGrangeville, NY), Dynamic Systems, Inc. (Poughkeepsie, NY), J&J Sass Electric, Inc. of Kingston, Chenango Contracting (Johnson City, NY), Crafco, Inc (Nassau, NY), Daktronics, Inc., Musco Sports Lighting, and Dant Clayton Corp.

The project was funded in partnership with the Kingston City School District. More information about the project can be found at https://engagekingston.com/dietz-stadium-improvements.

The facility is managed by the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department, led by Lynsey Timbrouck in partnership with KCSD staff. The stadium is open to the public when not in use for school athletics and band practices.

A public schedule is now available at https://athletics.kingstoncityschools.org/resources/dietz-stadium-calendar.

Dietz Stadium was originally founded by the Fairgrounds Company in 1921 as a baseball field. In 1937, a WPA project created a running track and football field. In 1954, the municipal stadium was renamed Dietz Memorial Stadium in honor of the late Sargent Robert H. Dietz, who was a World War II hero awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, a Kingston resident and Kingston High School graduate.