Sonora High May Get New Field If Wish Is Selected

Sonora High School´s Dunlavy Field is severly worn-out and in many places no longer has any grass thanks to a combination of overuse and severe weather elements.

That may be changing very soon however, thanks to NBC´s “Three Wishes” reality TV show being filmed in Tuolumne County this week. The show could help cover about two-thirds of the $700,000 cost of installing FieldTurf. FieldTurf is a relatively new form of artificial turf.

The show´s producers told Sonora school officials that if their story is selected, installation of the field could start next month.

Executive Producer Andrew Glassman said he cannot say anything officially for now however he is asking for the entire community to show up at Sonora High School this evening at 6:30 for a “major event”. They are hoping to fill the stadium and show the world how Sonora can truly shine.

The prospects have school officials excited.

In 2001, USA Today called Dunlavy Field one of the nation´s “10 Great Places to Watch a High School Football Game.”

About $250,000 is the amount of cash that Sonora officials say someone local needs to front, should “Three Wishes” grant the big wish to Sonora High School. FieldTurf, Nike and the American Soccer Federation are putting up the rest.

The school district has been mulling the idea of installing FieldTurf for more than a year, and began raising funds to make it happen early last year — before “Three Wishes” became involved.