It’s been less than four years since Old Orchard Beach’s Department of Recreation took over operations of the town’s iconic Old Orchard Beach Ballpark.

Now, the department’s director, Jason Webber, is looking forward to adding to the park’s offerings well beyond baseball games and concerts, and he wants the public’s input on what residents want to see.

“I’d like more of that conversation with community members because ultimately, just like myself that lives here, we are the taxpayers and we have to settle the bill for this place, and I want them to have some input in that,” he said.

On a recent Tuesday, the park’s field looked spotless under the midday early summer sun, and workers were cleaning up other parts of the park with the expectation of new visitors. The park began its collegiate baseball season this past Sunday, with the Greater New England Collegiate Baseball League holding its first game at the park. 

The league, according to Webber, is under new management, and is bringing players in from as far away as South Carolina.

“The quality of play has increased tremendously,” he said.

The park has a long history of ups and downs dating back to 1984, when it first opened with games featuring the Triple-A Baseball Club of Maine. The 1980s and 1990s were the park’s heyday, featuring baseball that included games with a farm team for the Philadelphia Phillies.

It was also a popular concert venue. Along with its 5,000 seats, some temporary bleachers and additional standing room on the field itself. The park had hosted more than 10,000 people. Webber said famous bands played at the park, including AC/DC, Aerosmith and New Kids on the Block. 

“If there was a big name coming in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, they played here at the ballpark,” he said.

By the late 1990s, however, the private companies that owned and managed the park had lost both funding and interest. Defaulted loans put the property into town hands, where it languished, unused, until the mid-’00s. 

Webber said he remembered visiting the field after it had been closed for some time. He held his hands more than two feet apart while he described it.

“We stood out there at second base and there was a tree about this big growing at second base, and this entire field was grass about waist high,” he said. 

Volunteers stepped in during the late ‘00s to rehabilitate the park, repairing the field, seats and associated buildings to make it useable again by 2010, according to department records.

At the time, it was largely minor-league baseball, with a town-appointed steering committee running the park itself. The park was functional, but limped along under the part-time leadership and management.

Webber said that all changed in 2020. During the pandemic, the town moved the recreation department into offices at the park, and placed the park’s operation under his department.

That, Webber said, changed everything, as the park now had something it hadn’t had in years: Full-time staff to run it and a budget to fund it. 

“This is a full-time job, and you need a staff that’s behind it, you need a town budget behind it,” he said.

Today, the park hosts regular baseball games. While major rock concerts are unlikely in the future, Webber said the park routinely holds concerts with tribute bands.

“Right now, we get to 1,000 people, and that’s pretty busy for us,” he said.

But there’s potential for much more. Webber said the park sits on 52 acres. So far, the property offers walking trails, one of which circles a retention pond. There is a skate park and community gardens, and plans are in place to build a playground and possibly a BMX mountain bike park. 

Even that, Webber said, doesn’t utilize the land fully, and he wants to see the park offer residents even more, but only if the public is interested.

“I think as a community we are now going to turn and have some good conversations about what we want to see down here,” he said. “Do we want to see a recreation center building? Do we want to do something with the stadium? Do we want new seating? Do we want new lights? Do we want a new scoreboard? Do we want to build some new trails? There’s a lot of potential here.” 

Webber said residents like him can remember coming to the ballpark for a ball game or a concert, and in part he is catering to longtime residents and Mainers who remember what the park has been like in the past.

“What I want to do is create some more memories,” he said.