Sumner is a city of around 10,000 residents around 35 miles south of Seattle and rather ominously, second in line to be hit by lahars in the vent of Mount Rainier erupting. Despite the threat of impending doom though, it is a delightful little place with some wonderful one off shops and restaurants.
At the end of Main Street, sits Sumner High School, and beside the school is the standard in this part of the world fully tricked out multi-purpose stadium. Sunset Stadium (sponsored by Chevrolet) is another in the line of fantastic high school stadiums I’ve seen on my travels, and another that is used by the larger community than just the Sumner High School Spartans football team. The Spartans play in Class 4A in the South Puget Sound District, the highest class of high school sport in Washington.
Sumner High School was formed in 1898, and Sunset Stadium was first built in 1959, before undergoing a huge $1.7 million redevelopment at the turn of the century. The redevelopment turned the site into the excellent ground that stands today. The stadium contains a full sized artificial pitch, lined for American football, football and lacrosse, and is surrounded by a fully artificial 400m 8 lane running track. There are also long jump pits with removable covers and a large electronic scoreboard behind one of the goals.
There are two large, bleacher seated stands on either side of the field. The main stand has seating for 2,400 spectators, while the “away” stand on the opposite side seats around 900, giving a total seated capacity of 3,300, with plenty of space for standing room if the occasion required.
A nice feature is the Sumner “Wall of Fame” adjacent to the main entrance, which celebrates the championship teams that have come from the school over the years. Sunset is an excellent facility, well utilised and what I can imagine a wonderful place to play.
Pies on the Terraces 