Funding rolled out for lawn bowling

The manicured lawn looks like a golf green.
For several years, this 10,000- square-foot plot of land on Regent Street near downtown Niagara- on-the-Lake has been home to lawn bowlers.
Town parks staff spend three days a week here buzzing the grass like it's a military haircut and ensuring the lawn gets enough water to stay green but dry enough for weighted plastic balls to glide.
"( The turf ) is the whole game," said Niagara-on-the- Lake Lawn Bowling Club president John Grieve.
The turf will soon go from au naturel to top-notch faux.
On Tuesday, the federal and provincial governments announced a joint $240,000 to buy a regulation size 14,400-square-foot artificial turf for the Niagara- on-the-Lake Lawn Bowling Club.
The Town of Niagara-on-the- Lake will cover the rest of the $360,000 expense.
In March 2011, the club will move to the grounds of the town's new $7.5-million community centre on Anderson Lane, where the new turf will be installed.
Grieve, 76, said he enjoys playing on natural grass, but likely won't miss it.
Just like in golf, sometimes a ball bounces on the ground and tears out chunks of turf, he said.
Grounds crews use herbicides to keep out weeds, he said.
Along with the costly maintenance regime -- which is absorbed by the town -- natural lawn has ondulations that make it tough to toss a ball consistently, said Grieve, whose club has 63 members.
The artificial turf -- which is recognized by the Canadian Lawn Bowling Association as being certified for tournaments -- will improve play, he said.
The fake grass is so advanced that it can actually be modified to control for optimum lawn ball throwing speed, he said.
"It will take a lot of these variations out of it. It will be more consistent in speed."
Members of the 132-year-old club hope the new location and turf draws more members -- maybe even a few teens for a possible junior club.
The new lawn is also expected to attract major tournaments -- provincial and possibly national -- to Niagara-on-the- Lake, Grieve said.
Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor said the money is part of a stimulus program to boost the economy and create jobs.
"Just as importantly, it's about investing into long-term infrastructure projects that will have a real positive effect on the community," said Craitor, who made Tuesday's announcement with Niagara Falls MP Rob Nicholson and Niagara-on-the- Lake Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs.
Niagara-on-the-Lake also received $90,000 from the province and Ottawa to upgrade the Centennial Arena in Virgil.
The town is putting in the rest of the money for the $135,000 project.
The town's projects were among 758 across the province supported by the Recreational Infrastructure Canada program in Ontario and Recreation Ontario.