North Peace Minor Baseball eyes expansion after quick recovery from shed fire

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. —  The president of North Peace Minor Baseball is feeling “fantastic” despite a fire which burned its equipment shed to the ground at the start of the season.

Scott MacLean said there were no delays in the season beginning, even though the club’s shed went up in flames in April, one day before opening the season.

At the time, the Fort St. John RCMP said it had received a report about the fire but did not give any more information.

Several donors stepped up to give the club a hand, including NorthRiver Midstream, Rig Ratz Safety, Jiffy Lube and United Rentals.

“We were able to replace all the equipment that was inside and erect a small storage shed,” said MacLean. “It was really quick.”

 MacLean has been involved with the organization for the past 11 years; he became president in 2024 after the former head, Forrest Liddicoat, retired.

Last season, he oversaw the development of a youth umpire program, which he says has “been fantastic” and for his second year, he wanted to see more player enrollment in the league.

“[Player growth has] been continual over the last 10 years,” said MacLean. “We took a chance on moving people from a waiting list and actually had about 300-plus participants.

“In my second year I concentrated a little bit more on growth. Based on our waiting lists that we currently have, I would like to expand even more next year. We had 40 kids on the waiting list, my goal is to have nobody on the waiting list.”

As the season draws to a close, North Peace Minor Baseball will host the Montney League Baseball playoff tournament for competitive teams at the U-13, U-15 and U-18 levels and recreational league playoffs in town will begin on Monday, June 23rd.

Headquartered in Beaverlodge, the Montney League Baseball will feature teams from Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Grande Prairie, High Prairie and Peace River starting on Friday, June 20th at Kin Park.

“We are fortunate Fort St. John has one of the nicer facilities at Kin Park to host large tournaments,” said MacLean. “We do find that the other communities do like coming here.”

More information about North Peace Minor Baseball is available on the club’s Facebook page.