The official dedication of the new lights at Memorial Athletic Field in Port Townsend drew no shortage of speakers Dec. 7, but two who were impacted directly were student-athletes Logan Storm and Margeaux Manuel.

Storm is a senior football player at Chimacum High School, and Manuel is a senior soccer player at Port Townsend High School. Both learned to play under the previous lights, which were first installed in 1974.

“I watched my uncles play on this field, and it inspired me to play,” Storm said. “With these new lights, I can see the ball better, I can see the defenders better, and you can see all of us better.”

Manuel said she scored her first goal on Memorial Athletic Field her freshman year, although she then admitted she scored it on her own team.

“Now that we have these new lights, I should be able to see the goal better,” Manuel said.

Manuel hoped current and future student-athletes would feel the same support from the community, and learn the same lessons on this field, that she did.

“Under the old lights, I learned to win and lose gracefully,” Manuel said, crediting her soccer coach Ahmad Babahar and Port Townsend Schools Athletic Director Lysa Falge with keeping her going. “Lisa did my shin-splints so many times I learned how to do it for the other girls.”

Manuel added, “The future looks bright for athletics in Jefferson County.”

The superintendents of both school districts — Rick Thompson for Chimacum and John Polm for Port Townsend — echoed their students.

Thompson acknowledged what a difference the availability of the field made to Chimacum’s homecoming ceremonies, while Polm expected there would be “no dark corners” during games, before the activation of the new lights revealed clusters of surprised-looking deer on the grass.

The benefits of athletics to kids of all ages were cited by Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean, who referred more than once to her own background “as the mom of a teen and a preteen” when she deemed the availability of athletic opportunities a “protective factor” against substance abuse, teen pregnancy and entering the criminal justice system.

“Risky behavior lights up kids’ brains, but so does athletic competition and mental challenges,” Dean said. “We need a physical place for that. We lost our roller rink, we lost our bowling alley, and we’ve even lost the Boiler Room.”

Dean acknowledged maintaining facilities such as Memorial Athletic Field might seem mundane to those who do the day-to-day labor, but she encouraged them to see it as “weaving the fabric of the social welfare network for our youth.”

Kaleen Cottingham, director of the state Recreation and Conservation Office, noted the RCO’s 29 different grant programs already had provided funds for the Port Townsend waterfront and the county’s network of public trails, before it helped fund the total replacement of Memorial Athletic Field’s lighting system.

Cottingham claimed three factors make for a successful project: a “tenacious staff at the local level” to work out the details, a community that comes together in support of the project, and legislators who both understand the project and are “willing to go to bat” for it.

Cottingham saw all three elements present in the Memorial Athletic Field lighting project, and described the way in which everyone present had worked on its behalf as emblematic of democracy.

Monte Reinders, public works director for the county, not only praised Memorial Athletic Field as a “fantastic facility,” but also as the only lighted field in the county.

Reinders noted its name originated in 1947 in the wake of World War II. Dean added the field’s history actually predates its doubling in size that year.

Reinders recalled the field’s more recent history as including the installation of irrigation in 2010 and the replacement of its roof in 2015.

“Three years ago, chunks of metal were falling off the lights, and they could have killed someone,” said Reinders, who credited Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Manager Matt Tyler with suggesting they pursue an RCO grant.

Although Jefferson County Administrator Philip Morley estimated the county and its partners would wind up covering 55 percent of the lighting system replacement’s $361,729 total cost, he deemed it worth the effort of “being beggars,” since the field hosts not only athletic events for all ages, but also community events such as the annual Rakers Car Show.

Reinders likewise expressed his gratitude to the RCO for incorporating the latest LED technology into the funded upgrade, which allows the lights to be turned on quickly and with less impact on neighboring properties.

“With the old lights, it took 45 minutes to turn them on without getting a $300 surge bill,” Reinders said. “With these new lights, there’s so little light spill, you’d barely know they were on a block away.”