Rosemount area youngsters now have a new place to play.

The long-awaited Flint Hills Athletic Complex officially opens to the public on Saturday. The opening celebration, which begins at 10 a.m., will include youth soccer games and remarks by officials from the city, Flint Hills Resources and donors.

“This is sort of a milestone for us,” said Dan Schultz, the city parks and recreation director. “It’s been several years, so we’re excited.”

The park has been a work in progress since 2007, when Rosemount-based Flint Hills donated 57 acres to the city with the sole stipulation that it be used for recreation. The gift was valued at $2.7 million.

But plans were shelved a year later when voters rejected an $8 million park bond measure that would have paid for youth athletic fields and the renovation of the former St. Joseph’s church building into an arts and cultural center.

Rosemount set aside about $750,000 in its 2013 capital improvement budget to get work going on the fields at the northeast corner of Akron Avenue and Bonaire Path.

Local businesses also chipped in:

Dakota Aggregates prepped a parking lot and a trail and graded the land as an in-kind donation totaling $280,000.

Other in-kind work valued at more than $80,000 was completed by Flint Hills, Pine Bend Paving, Barton Sand & Gravel and Kane Transport.

When fully developed, the park will include seven full-sized soccer/lacrosse fields, a park shelter-concession building and a playground area, Schultz said. It will also be a link in the Mississippi River Regional Trail.

The park, which actually opened Sept. 2, already is a sought-after spot for local youth teams, Schultz said.

“We’ve been hearing positive comments from people using the fields, “Schultz said. “And so we want to let the donors know that it’s turned out to be a high-end complex and that they should be proud of what they invested in.”

Nick Ferraro can be reached at 651-228-2173. Follow him at twitter.com/NFerraroPiPress.