gothamhunter
Diamond Member
So, here's the scoop. I live in Dubuque IA, near the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville IA. My wife and her family are from there and my wife plus her sisters have worked at the site for around 8 years each (My wife is in the movie actually, in the special edition "Return to the Field of Dreams" segment).
It's no news that the site is losing its luster; as time goes on less and less people know or care about it; in 2005 they only had 65k visitors for the year, and that number has been declining pretty rapidly. That seems like a lot, but they don't charge admission and most only walk away buying MAYBE a $1 key-chain. The profit gap has been narrowing and they had to do something.
What happened is that they sold the site to Denise Stillman, a member of the investor group "Go the Distance Baseball LLC", to help revitalize the site and the small town of Dyersville as a tourist attraction/town by building a large baseball complex somewhere near the FOD site. It won't be over it, or replacing it, just nearby it. The majority of the town is in agreement on it, but of course some aren't and that's fine; everyone has opinions on the matter and they all differ.
THE MAIN problem is this page: https://www.facebook.com/savethefieldofdreams
This guy from California (David Blanchard) started this page some time ago because he visited the site once and doesn't want it changed. He continuously changes his stance on what he wants done differently (I think he's settled on moving the baseball complex somewhere else, which won't help revitalize interest in the Field of Dreams site at all), bans people who have any opposition from the page if they begin to be negative at all. He says they're all being fed information to say by Denise Stillman, or have multiple accounts to bypass being banned; things like that which he has no facts as being true but claims it as such. When others have accused him of having multiple accounts at one point so others agree with him, he's banned those people. If you look at his posts/responses, he posts gigantic replies that put someone to sleep with his rhetoric, opinions, and assumptions.
This ATOT effect thread is only asking this: for members to go to that page and honestly ask/discuss what's happening. He brags about the number of people who "like" it or visit; well when you post a header of a gigantic bulldozer ready to plow the site, I can imagine some people would want to save it. The problem is that is a huge misrepresentation of what's happening; the original site will be saved and preserved and the complex will be built away from it in the corn somewhere.
So, there's that. I'm just so annoyed by this guy because my wife and I sit there and read what he says and it's all just a bunch of malarky and we can't do anything about it because of our professional careers and who might read what we type (some of the people who frequent the page are people we work with and we don't want our differences to be uncomfortable).
If you want more information, there's some links below but I can also give out some if you have questions; my wife's parents live very close to it and they'd actually have to move when this all goes into effect, but they understand that it's also vital for the town to be able to keep afloat; the place is built in tourism (FOD site, National Farm Toy Museum) and the lack of interest in the FOD site has been hurting them.
More info:
http://www.kwwl.com/story/16978132/field-of-dreams-plans-sparked-heated-council-meeting
http://allstarballparkheaven.com/
http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/8509884-522/chicago-area-couple-buy-field-of-dreams-site.html
http://wgnradio.com/2013/01/04/the-new-owner-of-the-field-of-dreams-movie-site/
It's no news that the site is losing its luster; as time goes on less and less people know or care about it; in 2005 they only had 65k visitors for the year, and that number has been declining pretty rapidly. That seems like a lot, but they don't charge admission and most only walk away buying MAYBE a $1 key-chain. The profit gap has been narrowing and they had to do something.
What happened is that they sold the site to Denise Stillman, a member of the investor group "Go the Distance Baseball LLC", to help revitalize the site and the small town of Dyersville as a tourist attraction/town by building a large baseball complex somewhere near the FOD site. It won't be over it, or replacing it, just nearby it. The majority of the town is in agreement on it, but of course some aren't and that's fine; everyone has opinions on the matter and they all differ.
THE MAIN problem is this page: https://www.facebook.com/savethefieldofdreams
This guy from California (David Blanchard) started this page some time ago because he visited the site once and doesn't want it changed. He continuously changes his stance on what he wants done differently (I think he's settled on moving the baseball complex somewhere else, which won't help revitalize interest in the Field of Dreams site at all), bans people who have any opposition from the page if they begin to be negative at all. He says they're all being fed information to say by Denise Stillman, or have multiple accounts to bypass being banned; things like that which he has no facts as being true but claims it as such. When others have accused him of having multiple accounts at one point so others agree with him, he's banned those people. If you look at his posts/responses, he posts gigantic replies that put someone to sleep with his rhetoric, opinions, and assumptions.
This ATOT effect thread is only asking this: for members to go to that page and honestly ask/discuss what's happening. He brags about the number of people who "like" it or visit; well when you post a header of a gigantic bulldozer ready to plow the site, I can imagine some people would want to save it. The problem is that is a huge misrepresentation of what's happening; the original site will be saved and preserved and the complex will be built away from it in the corn somewhere.
So, there's that. I'm just so annoyed by this guy because my wife and I sit there and read what he says and it's all just a bunch of malarky and we can't do anything about it because of our professional careers and who might read what we type (some of the people who frequent the page are people we work with and we don't want our differences to be uncomfortable).
If you want more information, there's some links below but I can also give out some if you have questions; my wife's parents live very close to it and they'd actually have to move when this all goes into effect, but they understand that it's also vital for the town to be able to keep afloat; the place is built in tourism (FOD site, National Farm Toy Museum) and the lack of interest in the FOD site has been hurting them.
More info:
http://www.kwwl.com/story/16978132/field-of-dreams-plans-sparked-heated-council-meeting
http://allstarballparkheaven.com/
http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/8509884-522/chicago-area-couple-buy-field-of-dreams-site.html
http://wgnradio.com/2013/01/04/the-new-owner-of-the-field-of-dreams-movie-site/
Last edited:
