GNADENHUTTEN (WJER) - Construction is about to begin on the new stadium for Indian Valley schools. 

The district will have a groundbreaking ceremony for the project behind the high school on Monday, August 12th, at 5:30 p.m. Superintendent Ira Wentworth says it’s a big deal.

“It’s a huge deal. I mean, if we just think not just our county but our area, how many times have we in our lifetime seen a stadium facility built, and it’s not many. So that is a big deal and has the interest of folks not just in the Indian Valley community but beyond,” he says.

He says the first 500 people at the ceremony will receive a keepsake – a small, inscribed container that they can fill with some dirt from the groundbreaking. The band will play the National Anthem, the choir will sing the alma mater, and some speakers will address the crowd in a 20-minute ceremony. Then, Wentworth says, several students will participate.

“The thing that I’m excited about most is we’re lining up 13 students from kindergarten through 12th grade and asking them to wear their Indian Valley shirts and give each of them a shovel, and I just think that sort of spans the whole gamut of who we’re trying to serve,” he says.

Wentworth says the stadium is on schedule to be finished for use in fall 2020.

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