Ellsworth has decided to spend $750,000 to rebuild its school track and soccer field.
The project will fix long-lingering repairs at the Ellsworth Elementary Middle School athletic facility, where decades of wear have left the surface uneven, cracked and slippery.
The track’s current state poses “significant safety concerns,” according to Ellsworth Superintendent Amy Boles. As a result, the school department limits the track to hosting one high school meet per year, Ellsworth Athletic Director Josh Frost said.
The city has approved a $749,565 contract with Rekortan, a company that designs Olympic-grade tracks, to install a new 400-meter track and upgrade the existing soccer field.
In recent years, to account for the deteriorating surface, the school has minimized the amount of people and equipment it places on the track, according to Paul Markosian, a local school board member.
Widening cracks have spread across the eight lane asphalt track, leaving an uneven surface with sections of bare pavement and crowned edges. The weathered track has lost its grip, creating slippery and unsafe conditions for many activities like high jumps and long jumps.
“There has been, over the last couple years, the need to either not run an event or postpone a meet due to it raining thus making the track surface really slippery and unsafe,” Frost said.
The track surrounding Del Luce Stadium was first installed in 1988 and has only been resurfaced once, according to a school department memo. The track’s poor condition is not new: the school board and city council have floated its need for repair for several years.
Last year’s City Council approved a bond anticipation note to fund the project in October 2025. The city and school department plan to offset approximately $250,000 of the bond through fundraising, Ellsworth Communications Director Amy Kenney said.
Those efforts could include offering naming rights to the new track, according to City Manager Charlie Pearce.
Construction will begin this spring and is anticipated to last throughout the summer.
Markosian praised the city and school department for collaborating on the project, saying it would benefit residents throughout Hancock County.
“It’s not just a facility that’s used by the school: it’s used by the elder community and all of Hancock County,” Markosian told the Bangor Daily News. “It’s a great resource, and I’m happy that it’s finally going to be brought back to the condition that it should be.”
