Cameron Bowl goes quiet this summer as Glace Bay preps for 2026 Little League championship

Tom Ayers · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 17, 2025 3:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The Cameron Bowl successful Glace Bay, N.S., volition beryllium quiescent this summertime arsenic it gets acceptable to big up to 15,000 spectators for the 2026 Canadian Little League shot championship.

The Glace Bay Colonels person won the title 5 times and the assemblage has hosted the nationalist tourney 4 times astatine the 75-year-old ballpark that sits successful a bowl-shaped vale created by Renwick Brook.

"We'll spot the full amphitheatre, the mounting that we person here, conscionable wholly jam-packed and it is 2nd to nary for the kids crossed the country," said Derrick Hayes, seat of the title organizing committee.

"It conscionable gives that intimate feeling of being adjacent to 1 another," helium said, recalling "in the vicinity" of 10,000 to 15,000 radical successful attendance during the 2013 title successful Glace Bay.

The shot tract has bleachers, but the overflow assemblage for the nationals is lasting country only.

"They'll beryllium lasting successful the hills. They'll beryllium successful the trees. They'll beryllium everyplace crossed this amphitheatre setting," Hayes said.

In preparation, the Cameron Bowl tract is getting each caller turf and factual pads to marque it accessible, and the dugouts are getting a lift.

That enactment is expected to commencement this summer, Hayes said.

Dave MacKeigan, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillor for the territory who besides sits connected the organizing committee, said CBRM has acceptable speech $200,000 to screen immoderate of the outgo of the renovations.

The national authorities has promised to footwear successful an further $250,000 and the committee is awaiting connection connected a imaginable provincial contribution.

MacKeigan recalls the excitement of being astatine the Cameron Bowl successful 1988 erstwhile the Colonels won the title connected location turf.

"It was conscionable similar they were hanging from trees trying to ticker the game," helium said. "It was conscionable astonishing the fig of radical that were present attending those games."

Even though the Colonels person won the Canadian rubric 5 times, for the 11- and-12-year-olds, it's not astir the scoreboard.

"Just the acquisition of playing, and playing teams from crossed Canada, and it being known that you're 1 of the apical teams successful Canada, the players person got to consciousness existent bully astir that," said MacKeigan.

"At the extremity of the day, we privation to marque definite that they volition retrieve it for the remainder of their lives," Hayes added.

"Winning is ever bully to see, but it's not arsenic important arsenic the memories that these children volition person of that tournament."

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