Blue Bell company brings ‘Field of Dreams’ to life ahead of Phillies game in Iowa

BLUE BELL, Pa. - "If you build it, he will come."

It’s one of the most iconic lines from the movie Field of Dreams — and a Blue Bell company is bringing those words to life in Iowa.

BrightView, the country’s largest commercial landscaping company, built and maintains the Field of Dreams site in Dyersville, Iowa, where the Phillies will play Thursday.

"They call it the Field of Dreams for a reason, because those are all dreams," said Murray Cook, president of BrightView Sports.

BrightView is putting the final touches on the field ahead of Thursday’s game.

The transformation began in 2019, when the company helped turn the Iowa farm near the movie site into a professional baseball field.

The project required 100,000 square feet of sod, 300 tons of clay for the diamond and even 160 acres of field corn.

"Is this heaven?" Not quite.

"It’s Iowa."

For Cook, the magic of the movie never gets old.

What they're saying:

"You get goosebumps every time you come," he said. "You still do out here. The movie does that."

And the reaction from the players is part of what makes the job special.

"My favorite part is watching the players come out and see it," Cook said. "They’re always going, ‘Ooh, ahh.’"

Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber is looking forward to experiencing the movie setting in person.

"I think it’s gonna be really cool being able to see the movie when I was growing up," Schwarber said. "Excited to see the corn and where the field — where they actually filmed it at."

For BrightView, building the Field of Dreams is a dream job — but it’s just one of many high-profile fields the company works on.

The Blue Bell-based company has worked on fields ranging from the Little League World Series in Williamsport to the World Cup, as well as college fields at places like Lehigh University.

And the process of maintaining the grass isn’t all that different from what goes into a field at a local park.

"The process is the same," said Collin Breidinger, a BrightView operations manager. "The field is watered, irrigated, we topcoat and seed. It gets fertilized six times a year. We do aeration. We mow it three times a week."

At Lehigh, BrightView gave FOX 29 a behind-the-scenes look at the work that goes into keeping a baseball field game-ready.

"It’s always important to make it nice and smooth," Breidinger said, explaining that the goal is to make sure the ball behaves consistently and players don’t encounter unexpected bad hops.

For the crews maintaining these fields, there’s also a sense of pride that comes with knowing millions of people may eventually see their work.

"It goes back to pride," Breidinger said. "Something that you can go home and say, ‘I was a part of that. I did that.’"

And now, another Field of Dreams is ready for its next chapter — this time with the Phillies taking the field.

It’s the kind of field that makes you want to have a catch.

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