Heritage Financial Park
Heritage Financial Park is a baseball park in Wappingers Falls, New York.[8] Home to the Hudson Valley Renegades, the park originally opened in 1994 with the name "Dutchess Stadium." It has a capacity of 4,494 people.[9] It is located on New York State Route 9D and is located across Interstate 84 from Fishkill Correctional Facility. Construction of the stadium began in January 1994 and it opened six months later in June 1994.[10] The stadium was named Dutchess Stadium from 1994 to 2023. The team completed a naming-rights deal with Heritage Financial Credit Union in March 2023, at which point it became known by its current name.[11]
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  Heritage Financial Park Location within New York  Heritage Financial Park Heritage Financial Park (the United States) | |
| Former names | Dutchess Stadium (1994–2022) |
|---|---|
| Address | 1500 Route 9D Wappingers Falls, NY 12590[1] |
| Coordinates | 41°31′40.48″N 73°57′39.84″W |
| Owner | Hudson Valley Stadium Corp. |
| Operator | Hudson Valley Stadium Corp. |
| Capacity | 4,494 |
| Field size | Left field: 325 ft (99 m) Center field: 400 ft (120 m) Right field: 325 ft (99 m) |
| Surface | Astro-Turf |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | January 20, 1994[2] |
| Opened | June 18, 1994[3] |
| Construction cost | $8.3 million ($16.4 million in 2022 dollars[4]) |
| Architect | Liscum McCormack VanVoorhis LLP[5] |
| Structural engineer | Geiger Engineers |
| Services engineer | Fellenzer Engineering LLP[6] |
| General contractor | Meyer Contracting Corporation[7] |
| Tenants | |
| Hudson Valley Renegades (NYPL/High-A East) 1994–present Manhattan Jaspers (NCAA) 2015–2019 Hudson Valley Fort (FXFL) 2015 | |
Uses
The stadium is primarily used for baseball, as the home field of the Hudson Valley Renegades minor league baseball team.
In 2021, the team joined the High-A East as an affiliate of the New York Yankees.[12] Formerly the Renegades were the short season-A level team of the Tampa Bay Rays in the now-defunct New York-Penn League.
Each April the stadium hosts the Hudson Valley Baseball Classic between Marist College and the United States Military Academy.[13] Besides baseball, it is also used for weddings, catered events, concerts, as well as high school[14] and college graduations.[15] The stadium hosts K104's annual KFest concert held in early June, as well as a rock concert, usually held in late August. Performing artists have included Akon, Rihanna, Fat Joe, Counting Crows, Collective Soul, Wilco, Def Leppard, Bob Dylan, Drake and Adam Lambert, among others.
On July 15, 2014, it was announced that Manhattan College's baseball team would play all its home competitions at the stadium.[16] The team played its final season at the stadium in 2019 before returning to Van Cortlandt Park.
The stadium's first football tenant, the Hudson Valley Fort of the Fall Experimental Football League, took up residence in the stadium in October 2015.[17] Some high school football playoff contests were also to be held at the stadium that year, but the stadium was later determined to be unsafe as a football venue and those games were canceled.[18]
Features
In addition to concessions, the stadium features a kids area, which includes an ice cream shop and play areas. The entire field, excluding the pitchers mound and home plate area, was converted to AstroTurf in the spring of 2014.[19]
References
- "Renegades Front Office". MiLB.com.
- Carter, Christopher (January 27, 1994). "Stadium Crew Breaks Ground Jan. 20" (PDF). Harlem Valley Times. p. A12. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
- Hanley, Robert (June 19, 1994). "The Old Ball Game Gets New Times at Bat". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
- "Dutchess Stadium". Liscum McCormack VanVoorhis LLP. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- "Sports & Recreational Facilities". Fellenzer Engineering LLP. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- "Renegades Baseball Stadium". Meyer Contracting Corporation. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- Haynes, Stephen. "Excitement abound as Renegades are announced as Yankees' new high Single-A affiliate". Poughkeepsie Journal.
- "Heritage Financial Park". MiLB.com. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
- Merzbach, Brian. "Hudson Valley Renegades". Ballpark Reviews. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- Todd (2023-03-21). "Dutchess Stadium renamed Heritage Financial Park (VIDEO)". Mid Hudson News. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
- Reichard, Kevin (26 May 2009). "Affiliate Dance 2020". Ballpark Digest. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
- "WRWD Hudson Valley Baseball Classic Set For April 24". Army Athletics. April 9, 2013. Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- Cordero, Katelyn. "What will graduation look like at Dutchess Stadium this year?". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
- "DCC To Host In-Person Graduation Ceremonies, May 21". www.sunydutchess.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
- "Baseball to Play 2015 Home Games at Dutchess Stadium". Manhattan College Athletics. July 15, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
- "Brawlers will be part of FXFL". Vindy.com. The Vindicator. July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- Haynes, Stephen (November 4, 2015). "Hudson Valley Fort's season finale canceled". Retrieved November 20, 2015.
- McMann, Sean T. (April 5, 2014). "Dutchess Stadium Turf Thrills Hudson Valley Renegades". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
External links
