Field of Dreams

LANSINGS, AMESKAMP

Posted By: Judi Nicks (email)
Date: 8/20/2007 at 11:10:44

Sunday, August 19, 2007
Telegraph Herald
Dubuque, Iowa

Field of Dreams unified

Lansings, who own part of the site, buy the remainder from Rita Ameskamp

By ERIK HOGSTROM TH staff writer

The Field of Dreams movie site now has one owner. Rita Ameskamp has sold her portion to Don and Becky Lansing. In a press release, Becky Lansing said "that both parties would like to put an end to the rumors that their relationship was contentious."
Photo: Dave Kettering

The Field of Dreams movie site now has one owner. Rita Ameskamp has sold her portion to Don and Becky Lansing. In a press release, Becky Lansing said "that both parties would like to put an end to the rumors that their relationship was contentious."

DYERSVILLE, Iowa -- Left and center field will reunite with the infield at one of Dubuque County's best-known landmarks.

Rita Ameskamp has sold her 93-acre portion of the "Field of Dreams" film site to Don and Becky Lansing, owners of the rest of the field plus the adjacent farmhouse seen in the movie.

Ameskamp had owned the portion known as "Left & Center Field of Dreams."

Although the families had differed over commercialization at the film site, Becky Lansing said in a press release issued Saturday "that both parties would like to put an end to the rumors that their relationship was contentious."

"We have been neighbors as well as friends since the early 1960s, and while we have not always agreed we have remained friends," according to Ameskamp. "We look forward to a continued friendship."

Released in 1989, "Field of Dreams" starred Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who builds a baseball field in a cornfield hoping it will bring baseball legend "Shoeless" Joe Jackson back to life.

"Having the opportunity to purchase the remaining
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acreage that was included in the original farm from 1906 has completed a circle for my wife and myself," Don Lansing said in the press release.

No additional details on the purchase were available Saturday night, and Becky Lansing deferred making further comment until Monday.

An estimated 65,000 tourists visit the field annually and the movie site routinely basks in the national spotlight:

* NBC's "Sunday Today" show featured the site in July 1989, shortly after the release of the film.

* ESPN SportsCenter broadcast from the site in July 2005 as part of the network's "50 States in 50 Days" tour. Several segments of the show highlighted the movie site's popularity, the continuing rift between the two families who owned the land and Iowa's sports heritage and personalities.

* An estimated 6,000 people filled Left & Center Field of Dreams in August 2006 to hear Costner perform with his band and watch the film on a large inflatable screen as part of the NetFlix Rolling Roadshow.

One of the site's attractions includes "The Ghost Players," a group that has toured the country and the world playing games in traditional baseball uniforms. The group makes Left & Center appearances the last Sunday of each month, June through September.

"Field of Dreams" was based on a novel by W. P. Kinsella and the film was originally titled "Shoeless Joe" when filming began in Dubuque County. In addition to Costner, the film starred Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta and James Earl Jones.

According to a 1988 Telegraph Herald story, film production officials began communicating with the Lansings in December 1987 to use the family's farmhouse and nearby corn crop. The Ameskamp family also was contacted to provide some acreage to the production.

Some scenes were delayed during filming because a summer drought curbed corn growth.

The film's title had changed by April 20, 1989, when "Field of Dreams" celebrated its world premiere at the Cinema Center 8 Theatre on Kennedy Road. The nearly 800 people in attendance also received an invitation to a reception, a copy of Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" book and a "Field of Dreams" T-shirt.