The Ferriday community has gotten behind a project to revamp the high school’s football field.

A project, began earlier this year, to level the field, install an irrigation system and re-sod the field is moving along nicely, and members of the LSU-Southern University Ag Center, as well as community leaders, are working diligently to complete the project in time for next football season.

“We started last month,” Glen Daniels of the LSU-Southern University Ag Center said. “We went over the field twice surveying it. Dr. Ron Strahan provided some weed control. Dr. Bill Branch came out and started up for us. Dr. Ron Gregg brought his tractors and graded the field. The field’s in pretty good shape. (The Ag Center) is using Ferriday as a model of how the field can be built.”

Due to the low budget at Ferriday, volunteers from the Ag Center and the community have put in their own time to finish the field.

“I’m praying that it won’t cost Ferriday High School anything,” Ferriday principal Michelle Bethea said. “So far I’ve spent $350 out of my budget. Everything is being donated. This has turned into a community project, spearheaded by Glen Daniels.”

Daniels began installing the irrigation system this week, with the help of the Irrigation Mart of Ruston, La.

“We’d be lost without them,” Daniels said. “They’ve kind of helped us know what we’re doing. We still don’t know what we’re doing a little bit.”

Jack Smith with Irrigation Mart was at the school Tuesday to help with the installation. Irrigation Mart also drew up the plans for the system.

“We’re kind of here in an advisory capacity,” he said. “We supplied the design, and we’re helping them figure out what parts and pieces go together. We’re happy to help. This would cost $7,000-$8,000. We want this field to look good and we want to help them keep it green.”

Concordia Parish Police Juror Joe Parker, who serves Precinct 1-B, most of which is in Ferriday, is also assisting in the project, and said he is happy to be part of it.

“I was talking Glen Daniels, and he said they were going to start this project,” Parker said. “We’re all members of the Ferriday Athletic Association, so we try and pitch in and help when we can.

“As a Police Juror, I’m glad to do it. Being a police juror is just another way of giving back.”

Daniels said he hopes to have the irrigation system finished by the middle of April, and to begin installing the sod at that point. He said he expects the field to be ready for football when the season begins in late August.

Parker said the most satisfying thing about the project has been watching the community rally around it.

“Any time you can get the community involved in a positive thing, only positive things can come out of it,” he said. “When (Daniels) first mentioned it to me, I just said let’s do this.”