Work is progressing on a new multi-sport facility at Captain George Dixon Park in East End, with completion now expected in the first quarter of 2027.
The project will transform the community park off Seaview Road with a covered multi-purpose court for basketball, volleyball, five-a-side football, pickleball and bocce, along with other improvements designed to make the park a gathering place for residents of all ages.
Minister for Youth, Sports, Culture and Heritage Isaac Rankine told the Compass on 24 July that he was excited to see work advancing on a project he has advocated for over several years.
“The improvements to the park will be a great addition for use by our community,” Rankine said. “Spaces like these will be excellent community gathering places for all ages.”
He said the facility could also accommodate activities beyond competitive sports, including wellness programmes for seniors.
The project carries a special personal connection for Rankine. Capt. George Dixon, for whom the park is named, was his great-grandfather.
At a groundbreaking ceremony on 27 March, Rankine recalled the evolution of the site from swamp to football field and eventually a community park.
“This park holds a lot of history for us,” he said. “Before it became a park, it was just pure swamp. Then it was a football field and then it became a park and central to our community in this district.”
Rankine added, “The future of this park is for us, for our young people. Give them something to do so that we can make this the hub of activity for this district.”
Deputy Premier Gary Rutty recalled moving to East End in 1977, when organised sporting facilities were scarce and local youngsters improvised football pitches in the street.
“There were four concrete blocks, two on each side; that was the goalposts,” he said. “We need to bring that back into the community again. We need to get the kids involved.”
He added, “It is all about community and family and friends, and that’s one thing that East End is really known for.”
Seafaring history
The history behind the park’s name reaches considerably further back.
Former government minister Frank McField, another great-grandson of Dixon, said he never knew his ancestor, who died before McField was born in 1948, but family stories have preserved some of his remarkable life.
McField said his grandmother, Alida Dixon, sailed with her father and left his vessel at the Isle of Pines, Cuba, where she had three children before eventually returning to East End to care for her ailing father.
McField said the family’s travels also explain his unusual middle name, Swarres, a Caymanian spelling derived from the name Soares and linked to Capt. Dixon’s voyages to Brazil.
The late Capt. Paul Hurlston, a noted recorder of Cayman’s maritime history who died in December 2025 aged 94, documented an even more extraordinary account of Dixon’s early life.
According to Hurlston, Dixon was a young boy when he boarded a Scandinavian vessel off East End to sell provisions. The ship sailed away with him still aboard.
Thirteen years later, Dixon returned to Cayman having learned to read, write and navigate. Hurlston recorded that he subsequently became a general in the Honduran army.
That seafaring history now sits alongside a project focused firmly on East End’s next generation.
Edgewater Group president Kris Bergstrom said at the groundbreaking that delivering the project was also personal for his family.
“It feels like this is coming full circle for me, because I grew up just up the road from this project,” he said, adding that his son Kody, a third-generation Caymanian, was leading the project for the company.
Construction manager Kody Bergstrom said the improvements, which also include a bike trail, would give residents “a safe space to come and be able to play with family and friends”.
For Rankine, the aim is ultimately broader than sport.
“The park will provide opportunities for our young people to stay active, opportunities for families to spend quality time together, and opportunities for a stronger, healthier and more connected community,” he said.
Related Videos
