Field house at LHS to be dedicated

Caleb Breakey
Tribune sports reporter

The Curt Maberry Field House at Lynden High School is now complete, with mostly volunteer labor.

LYNDEN -- No more practicing alongside hay and horses. The Curt Maberry Field House will be dedicated in front of the public on Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. at Lynden High School.
  From noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, a barbecue will be held for all of the people and businesses that donated time, money and materials for the project.
  Everyone is advised to park in the main school parking lot, where a couple of shuttles will be available for pick-ups and drop-offs.
  The 60-by-84-foot field house — clearly visible from Vinup Road south of Lynden High School — will provide a warm place to practice not only for Lynden teams, but for youth clinics, programs and classes as well.
  Inside the building are AstroTurf, three retractable batting cages and a surrounding net that protects all four walls and the 16-foot ceiling. The facility has a place for players to store their bags when they walk in and rest rooms as well.
  All of the support for the high school project stemmed directly from honoring Maberry, said Mark Matthiesen, who headed up construction.
  Maberry, a berry farm operator who died in April 2007, holds so much respect in the community that the field house was financed solely by parents and local businessmen, with donations including material and labor.
  “From what Curt did for the school and community, people just wanted to return what Curt had given,” Matthiesen said. “Because we couldn’t have done it without Curt.”
  Matthiesen, who teaches woodshop at the middle school, said more than $100,000 was raised, which pretty much covered all of the costs.