RENOVATIONS ON TRACK

At the recent July 3 celebration, Mayor Tita Smith announced to the large crowd they ll have to celebrate American independence elsewhere next year. Fred Kelly Stadium is getting a $24 million renovation that will temporarily close it after the next football season. The Orange Unified School District is expecting the nearly 50-year-old facility to take about 15 months to upgrade and that it would reopen in March 2020. The school board recently approved the plans. We ll be moving the graduations, the Third of July celebration, the Foundation Games, the large spring track-and-field events, with the goal to bring all of those back to the stadium by the spring and summer of 2020, said Arianna Barrios, a school district spokeswoman. Along with improvements to the district stadium, which is part of the El Modena High campus, athletic fields will be updated at Canyon, Orange and Villa Park highs with synthetic turf and tracks. The change is expected to reduce field maintenanc