Schools
San Marin and Fans Enjoying New Field House
Structure next to football stadiums serves as concession stand, bathrooms and storage.
Megan Caldwell, a senior at San Marin High School, will contribute occasional stories to Novato Patch throughout the school year. This is her second assignment for Novato Patch.
For more than 40 years, fans and athletes at — plus those from visiting teams — have not had access to permanent bathrooms out near the school’s playing fields. Coaches had no place to store equipment, either.
That is no longer a problem because San Marin just opened its new field house, located between the gym and football field.
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When the and school officials evaluated the need for bathroom facilities near the football field, the decision to build a new building instead of tearing down the existing snack shack between the football stands at Mead Field and the baseball team’s Lefty Gomez Field. The new structure could be tied into existing utility lines and be placed in a spot that better serves both home and visiting team fans.
The old snack shack was left alone and continues to serve as an announcers’ booth and coaches' "crows nest" for football games. During baseball season, the snack shack will be open there.
Find out what's happening in Novatowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The district invested about $500,000 in the project and the San Marin Sports Boosters provided an additional $5,000 to $6,000, school officials said. The new concession area is considered a school kitchen, so it has stainless steel surfaces and other health code equipment.
“We like to see it as a comprehensive storage, bathroom, and snack shack,” said booster club president Tom Gorman.
Taxpayer dollars, specifically Measure A bond funds, were the source of funding.
also benefited from the project; its existing field bathrooms were renovated and a new snack shack was built for about the same amount of money.
In addition to sporting events, the San Marin field house is to be used by the school’s leadership class for events such as Homecoming and by the cafeteria staff for special events.
With a new facility for equipment storage, bathrooms and a snack shack, fans supporting the Mustangs are bound to have a better experience at sporting events.
Check out Megan Caldwell's first story for Novato Patch, .
