New VAB facility nearing completion

Posted on September 24, 2026 by Vauxhall Advance

By Nikki Jamieson
Vauxhall Advance
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The new Vauxhall Academy of Baseball facility is entering its final push both construction-wise and on the fundraising side.

During their regular September 8 meeting, Vauxhall town council received an update on the new VAB facility from Jets head coach Les McTavish.

“It’s been a crazy 18 months,” said McTavish of the new facility construction. “Better part of 20 years we’ve been trying to do this, and the last 18 months have been exciting, crazy, overwhelming.”

McTavish said the project is at 85 per cent completion, and they expect it to be completed in early November through to the end of December, as the “little things” get completed. The coming weeks will see netting installed (Sept. 14), and turf go in (Oct. 19), along with other big changes inside the facility.

McTavish said they raised $1.9 million for the project, a sum he called “considerable, considering we’re a small baseball academy in Southern Alberta”. Of which, $600,000 came from the Alberta government, $200,000 came from the M.D. of Taber, $200,000 came from the Town of Vauxhall, and the remainder was corporate and individual donations. However, they are still fundraising to cover the remaining costs.

“As you can image, the last 18 months, things have went up in costs. Tariffs have hurt and just change orders that need to happen.”

McTavish gave the example of adding a key-fob system to doors, which requires framing changes to the doors they are keyed for. Additionally, they didn’t want to “cut corners” on this building.

The academy has raised 85 per cent of the project costs, with the baseball part paid for. However, the public use area, including features like the viewing mezzanine and wait room, is still being worked on. While these spaces have a considerable cost associated with them, McTavish felt they are what made the project feel special. The academy has hosted tours through the building for fundraising and awareness purposes, with some visitors coming from Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto, to positive reviews. While he wasn’t asking council for more money to finish the project, McTavish said they were in the final fundraising push.

When asked if they had a formal media tour yet, McTavish said they wanted to get some of the actual nuts-and-bolts of the build out of the way.

“Right now, if you walk (around the building), there’s paint cans everywhere, grinders going, it’s kind of craziness,” said McTavish. “We do want to do a grand opening when it’s complete, but at that point, it’s complete so you need to have the bills paid at that point.”

Coun. Russell Norris asked if they had considered fundraising initiatives such as putting names of donors on a brick or plaque to go up. McTavish said they tried to make it unique to each individual, plus didn’t have a lot of space around the facility to do so. Another problem they had was some donors had donated more than $100,000 to the project but didn’t want recognition, so they were juggling how to honor others who had donated without offending them. McTavish said they would be discussing it at an upcoming board meeting.