Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.

If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option.

If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view articles for the day, please choose this option.

Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.

Promotional Rates were found for your code.

Abundant sunshine. High 98F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..

A clear sky. Low 54F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.

The City of Lodi’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department announced Monday that installation of new turf at the Grape Bowl has been completed.

The project involved removing and replacing more than 90,000 square feet of synthetic turf, included inlaid soccer and football game line markings, as well as silica sand and a cork infill mixture.

Parks director Christina Jaromay said work also included drain rock and quarry replacement and grading, along with new field grooming equipment, painting of the existing football goals and replacement of drainage panels.

“Prior to this replacement project, the previous turf was installed in April of 2010,” she said. “Routine analysis of the existing field playability and safety requirements of the surface showed the turf had met its life span of 10-12 years.”

Lodi High football coach George Duenas said he is excited about the prospect of his teams playing on the new turf.

“Any time you get a brand new playing surface it’s pretty exciting,” Duenas said. “The old stuff was pretty beat up.”

He added the new surface will offer a bonus in player safety.

“The thing is, I did notice the newer stuff is softer when you land on it,” Duenas said. “I’m excited with the new stuff, because we won’t get beat up by the field as much. So it’s pretty exciting.”

Work began on May 9 and was completed on July 12, which Jaromay said was 11 days ahead of schedule.

Montreal-based Field Turf USA installed the turf under a $760,000 contract with the city.

“We are still waiting on the final price as we had to add a time and material change order to address raising existing utility concrete aprons on the south side-line areas,” Jaromay said.

Reservations for field use can be made after July 27. The Lodi Fire Department will be conducting a controlled burn on the nearby hillside that day, she said.

As of Monday, the first scheduled game at the Grape Bowl is the Lodi High School frosh-soph football game on Aug. 25.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Would you like to receive breaking news alerts? Sign up now!

Would you like to receive our daily news headlines? Sign up now!

Would you like to receive our daily sports headlines? Sign up now!

Want to check out the digital edition of Lodi News-Sentinel?

Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more.