Pine Level opens Liberty Fields, marking a new community milestone

Liberty Fields opened at Pine Level Park with a ribbon cutting and first game at 5 p.m. Monday, giving Pine Level a long-promised recreation site at 160 County Road 104. The opening drew the Autauga County Commission, state and local elected officials, Director Kenneth Boswell and community partners for a celebration tied to community development and America’s upcoming 250th anniversary.

The park fills a need that had been building for years. In 2024, county and town leaders said residents had waited about 12 years for the project, and that one ball field had been carrying the load for about 19 teams in what they called the fastest-growing area of Autauga County. That shortage made Liberty Fields more than a new amenity: it gave Pine Level the kind of structured space youth baseball and family recreation had outgrown.

Pine Level’s rise to this point has been fast by local standards. The town officially became a town in December 2023 after a community-driven referendum, and Zachary Bigley was sworn in as Pine Level’s first mayor on Dec. 11, 2023, alongside five at-large council members. The town has described its growth as part of a larger effort to build a “lasting foundation” for the next 20 to 40 years, and Liberty Fields now sits inside that broader plan.

The completed project cost $2.08 million. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs contributed $1,019,616, while the Autauga County Commission contributed $1,080,384. Those figures put a hard number on what local leaders have treated as a basic civic investment: more room for children to play, more balance for overused fields and a clearer sign that Pine Level is building out the infrastructure that comes with growth.

Liberty Fields also carries a symbolic marker for the county’s America 250 effort. A Princeton elm designated as a Liberty Tree was planted at the site, where it is expected to grow 60 to 70 feet tall. County and town leaders have framed the tree as a lasting symbol of the nation’s founding ideals and civic responsibility, turning the park into both a recreation site and a visible marker of Pine Level’s place in Autauga County’s next chapter.