MIAMI – The City of Miami celebrated the grand opening of the Little Haiti Soccer Park on Saturday, May 3, 2008.To kick off the celebration, City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones joined Mayor Manny Diaz and other elected officials from the: City of Miami, Miami Dade County, North Miami, North Miami Beach and members of the Little Haiti community in a day long celebration that included: the Toussaint L’Ouverture Parade, a ceremony renaming the park after Mr. Emmanuel “Manno” Sanon (one of Haiti’s most celebrated soccer players), three soccer matches that included local Haitian teams and L’Athletique D’ Haiti ( a team from Haiti) and a Haitian festival with Caribbean music and live bands.
“I am extremely proud to be a part of the grand opening of the Little Haiti Soccer Park,” said Commissioner Spence-Jones “the late Commissioner Arthur E. Teele first introduced the idea for a “first-class full/service-park” park in Little Haiti some five or six years ago. His vision included a facility that exemplifies and captures the Haitian culture, rich with the colors of the Caribbean. The recreational and cultural components of the park will provide the Little Haiti, Edison, Little River, Buena Vista, and Lemon City residents with a park that they can truly call their own.”
The Little Haiti Soccer Park and Cultural Complex is the first state-of-the-art-facility in the Little Haiti/Lemon City area. The Little Haiti Soccer Park includes: both a practice field and a playing field, covered seating for 580 people, a tot lot complete with a jungle gym under a canopy and a children’s water splash park.
As part of the grand opening activities, The City of Miami invited and helped coordinate the arrival of18 young soccer players and four of their coaches from L’Athletique D’Haiti. L’Athletique D’Haiti is an institution in Haiti that focuses on soccer, and other sportive activities with the sole objective of empowering athletes and coaches to develop their talent to the fullest. This group of young men participated in one of Saturday’s soccer games against the Little Haiti Soccer Team (from Miami) in which they defeated Miami’s team 4-1.
These young men were given the chance to come to Miami, in what was (for most of them) their first trip to the United States. (Their trip was sponsored by Viola and Yele Haiti). While here in Miami the young men had a chance to participate in the Toussaint L’Ouverture Parade, visit Notre Dame D’Haiti Catholic Church, enjoy a fun filled day at Jungle Island and go shopping at Target, where they were able to buy clothing, electronics and other necessities for themselves and their families.
Commissioner Spence-Jones’ vision, is to eventually create a soccer exchange program between the City of Miami and L’Athletique D’ Haiti.
“What we want to bring to the park is a cultural exchange program where kids from Little Haiti and Haiti can interact and communicate with each other.” said Commissioner Spence-Jones .
To ensure that the new park consist of the Haitian/Caribbean culture , the City of Miami along with the Office of Commissioner Spence-Jones has created committees that will provide input on the cultural and recreational components of the park and the Cultural Complex. In addition, the Office of Commissioner Spence-Jones has created partnerships with the city of Jacmel and Port-au-Prince Haiti.
The Little Haiti Soccer Park and Cultural Complex is funded by both the City of Miami and Miami Dade County. The total project cost is approximately $36.9 million of which the City of Miami contributed $29.6 million and Miami Dade County contributed $7.3 million.
