BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem)

A few years ago, a Minor League Baseball team was formed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Winston-Salem already had a team at the time, but a completely new image was needed. The team's name is now the Dash. A new stadium was built and named BB&T Ballpark and many new staff members were hired. In 2010, I was one of those new employees who got to see how the stadium was more than a field on which a team could play. I took this photograph before work one day because I had a few minutes to relax and realize the great qualities of the ballpark. It is clearly a beautiful, modern stadium, and the warm sunshine and cool shadows only make it nicer. These qualities make it an important symbol in the city. It seems as if nearly everyone in the area has been to the stadium for a game. There have been instances where local high school teams came to play their baseball games on the field. The Chicago White Sox even played on the field last year. Events like these bring the community together in one public space. It also keeps the youth out of trouble. Fans root together for the home team because they are proud of their city. Every day, I meet someone new because I greet hundreds of people per game. I get a fairly accurate understanding of the types of personalities that live around my family. Kevin Mattson discusses the importance of public space in his work, "Reclaiming and Remarking Public Space." He writes about how public space should be used to keep the community together and democratic. He believes this space in the community is to be used as a place where people interact with each other, and that is exactly what the Dash and BB&T Ballpark have accomplished. 


-Drew Lewis
3/22