DYERSVILLE — The tarp is off. The rain, for now, has stopped.
Whether it stays that way is the question hanging over Major League Baseball’s return to the Field of Dreams.
Around 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, crews began uncovering the diamond at the Dubuque County ballpark after a soggy morning and early afternoon, the first real break from hours of rain ahead of the Minnesota Twins’ 6:30 p.m. CT game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Workers hauled sandbags from the edges of the tarp before lining up across the outfield and wrapping the massive sheet around a long, black corrugated pipe. A swarm of groundskeepers then spread out with leaf blowers and rakes, clearing puddles and working the dirt beneath a gloomy, gray sky.
An MLB staffer told the Register that the tarp came off so crews could begin rehearsals ahead of the game. There was no assurance the break in the weather would last.
“All fingers are crossed,” the staffer said.
A round of showers and thunderstorms moved across most of Iowa on Thursday morning, with heavy rain and strong winds among the concerns. Forecasters expected the most widespread rain earlier in the day and some improvement by early afternoon, although scattered showers could linger.
As of shortly after 1 p.m., the rain had stopped at the Field of Dreams Movie Site. But the hourly forecast still called for rain in Dyersville through much of the afternoon and early evening, including around the scheduled first pitch.
The changing conditions were built into Thursday’s preparations.
As the grounds crew worked below, the outfield scoreboard cycled through rehearsal messages for an array of possible weather emergencies. One would instruct fans to seek shelter from lightning. Another would tell fans to return to their vehicles if severe weather delayed the opening of the gates. Other test messages covered a weather delay, an evacuation, a cancellation and a postponement of the game until Friday.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tarp comes off at Field of Dreams as MLB officials hope rain holds off