Saturday was a beautiful spring day in Chattanooga and offered great weather for 150 plus “friends of Engel Stadium” to scrub, pressure wash, clean stadium seats and offer a fresh coat of paint to one of the oldest baseball parks in America.

“There are a couple of big events at Engel Stadium later this spring so we are glad to have as many volunteers as possible come out and help us in our cleaning up of the stadium,” said Engel Foundation board member Lady Walker.

“We had a very productive day Saturday and the stadium is looking great.”

The Engel Foundation is preparing for an open house Sat. April 13 in conjunction with the release of the movie “42” earlier that week and the Charlie Daniels Concert May 2.

Eagle Scout Project: Soddy Daisy High School sophomore Dakin Barrott used the day at Engel Stadium for his Eagle Scout project. Several students from Soddy Daisy, East Hamilton, Signal Mountain and GPS helped Barrott with his one day project.

“This has been a lot of work, but it’s been great to be part of restoring Engel Stadium,” said Barrott who is member of the Soddy Daisy Jr ROTC program and will receive his Eagle Scout badge on on April 27.

Many of the volunteers who worked on the clean up project headed by youth director Nathan Evans are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Chattanooga area.

“We were looking for a service project and United Way put us in contact with The Engel Foundation,” said Evans.

"42", The Movie:  "42", the story of the life of baseball hall of famer Jackie Robinson, will be released nationwide on April 12. The Engel Foundation will have an open house for baseball fans of all ages at Engel Stadium on Sat. April 13.

Charlie Daniels Concert: The Friends of the Festival is organizing the Charlie Daniels Concert at Engel Stadium (May 2) conjunction with the Veterans Day Parade downtown to follow on May 3.

The concert will benefit the Veterans Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Business which is under the leadership of Dr. Robert Dooley, the UTC Dean of Business.

The Veterans Entrepreneurship Program at UTC is geared to help members of the Armed Forces enter or re-enter higher education. The curriculum involves entrepreneurship and small business management and is formatted in a series of training modules.

Concert Tickets: Tickets for the American Dream Concert will be available for $20 at more than 50 Kangaroo locations. Tickets go on sale April 1.

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net