Submitted Art Above is a rendering of the proposed Minot High artificial turf project. Art courtesy of Minot High School.

Minot High School has had its eyes set on an improved playing surface for Duane Carlson Stadium for a long time.

So, the Minot High Activities Department and the Minot Public Schools Foundation announced a joint campaign in hopes of fundraising $1.2 million in hopes of bringing artificial turf to Minot.

“Just from the sheer amount of events we have there, we think it’s necessary,” Minot High Activities Director Mitch Lunde said. “One of the main things it does is allow for our soccer teams to have a home down by Magic City Campus. Right now they’re at the Optimist Soccer Complex, which is fine, but we’d be able to get them playing here with the videoboard and an otherwise really nice facility.”

Lunde and the Minot Public Schools Foundation expect to send a flyer to around 19,000 alumni next week to get a kickstart of raising enough funds for a “Magic Carpet,” the nickname for Minot’s potential artificial turf.

“We’re hoping that many of them will remember the memories and experiences they had at Minot High,” Lunde said. “It comes back to us trying to build that Magic Carpet for our kids to have space that they need. We’re hoping the flyer goes over well and it can start raising the funds we need to support the project.”

The Magic Carpet would allow various teams to practice at Duane Carlson in the summer, something currently unavailable to MHS programs because of potential early wear and tear on the stadium’s grass surface.

How quickly the project comes along depends largely on how soon the $1.2 million is raised. But the turf won’t be installed until MHS is sure the construction wouldn’t hinder any team’s usage of Duane Carlson Stadium for athletic events. Alas, Lunde said the goal is for the Magic Carpet to be finished by 2018.

“No matter what, we’re going to be playing at Duane Carlson next year,” Lunde said. “If we can raise enough in the next couple of months to where we’d be guaranteed to play at Duane Carlson stadium next year, we’d look at starting implementing it in the summer. If not, we’ll wait until we can get the project done completely with no hassles to any of our programs. We don’t have places to move those games, because moving a Minot High football game would be tough.”

MHS is also considering expanding Duane Carlson Stadium’s press box further down the road.

Minot High remains one of the few larger schools in North Dakota without an artificial turf. Watford City, Williston, Bismarck and Mandan are several schools that have already upgraded to a turf playing surface and Lunde hopes Minot High can keep pace.

Watford City just built theirs. Williston has a brand new one, Bismarck has a couple, Mandan has built a few.

“We still want to have facilities we’re really proud of that compete with everyone else,” he said.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.