The 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” tells the story of an Iowa farmer who reunited with his estranged father by mowing down his corn field and building a baseball diamond for long-dead players. Starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, the tale of redemption was an ode to a simpler time when baseball was a joyous game uncluttered by commercial interests.
Within months of the movie’s release, fans began trekking to the fictional field that Universal Pictures built in Dyersville, Iowa, an hour’s drive from Cedar Rapids, searching for some of the emotion they’d felt watching the movie. The pilgrimages haven’t stopped.
Many of the tens of thousands of fans who visit the site each year gush about how the grounds seem as peaceful as they do in the movie. Most people pose for photos near the corn stalks and in front of the house’s picket fence.
But the site, at times, has also given way to commercialization: The house on the property rents for $600 on a weeknight; $79 bottles of “Field of Dreams” whiskey are made with corn grown at the site; a group of re-enactors perform vaudeville acts on weekends; and nationally televised Major League Baseball games have been played there.
The efforts to cash in on the site continue. Last year, a nonprofit group, Dyersville Events, used government grants to buy the site for $27 million. The state of Iowa provided millions more to help build a new stadium to draw more big events, including another pro game next summer when the Minnesota Twins are expected to face the Philadelphia Phillies. Elsewhere on the grounds, Tim McGraw headlined a country music festival on Labor Day weekend.
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