Iowa teacher who found Field of Dreams farm reflects as MLB returns to Dyersville

Before Kevin Costner ever played catch with his father on the silver screen, before thousands of fans packed a temporary ballpark in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, a Dubuque teacher snapped photos of a farm that would become one of the most iconic settings in American cinema.

Sue Riedel, now in her 70s and the manager and artistic director of the Bell Tower Theater in Dubuque, discovered the Lansing farm in Dyersville in the summer of 1986 while volunteering for the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce Film Bureau. Her photographs helped convince Universal Studios to build the Field of Dreams there, a decision that continues to pay dividends for northeast Iowa nearly four decades later.

Major League Baseball returns to Dyersville on Thursday for the third Field of Dreams game, this time featuring the Phillies and Twins. The game will be broadcast on Netflix, which recently added the 1989 film back to its streaming library.

How did an Iowa teacher find the Field of Dreams farm?

Riedel was tasked with scouting farms for the film production. She photographed roughly 60 properties before coming over a hill and spotting the Lansing farm, which sat alone and completely surrounded by corn.

“It just had this really picturesque look,” Riedel said. “I really thought it was the best property because it was set by itself. It was also totally surrounded by corn, which they really wanted.”

When she knocked on the door, Don Lansing wasn't home. He was working at John Deere. Riedel sent the photos to Universal Studios anyway, and the studio quickly identified the farm as a top choice.

When Riedel returned to tell Lansing the news, he was understandably skeptical.

“I knocked back on the door and I said, 'I took a picture of your farm, and I sent it into Universal Studios, and they'd like to come and talk to you about making a movie,'” Riedel recalled. “And he said, 'Are you dreaming?'”

Once Lansing learned the film centered on baseball, his favorite sport, he agreed. The neighboring Ameskamp farm was also included to accommodate the ballfield dimensions.

What role did Riedel play in filming the movie?

Filming took place during a brutally hot summer in 1988. Crews irrigated the corn and even painted dying grass with green vegetable dye and latex turf paint to keep the field camera-ready.

Riedel's involvement went far beyond the initial discovery. She coordinated local casting, recruited extras, and helped organize ballplayers for the baseball scenes.

“I got to go to baseball practice every morning with Don Buford of the Baltimore Orioles and Ron Dedeaux from USC,” Riedel said. “They were the coaches and they coached all the baseball players. They called me the Bat Girl.”

She also organized the PTA meeting scene, which required 500 extras, and coordinated the film's final shot featuring 1,500 cars and roughly 3,000 people lining up to visit the field.

“It was the biggest tailgate party in the history of this area,” Riedel laughed.

Riedel worked with local radio stations to broadcast the director's instructions to drivers, ensuring the massive scene went off without a hitch. A helicopter captured one of the film's most enduring aerial shots with her team's help.

What does the Field of Dreams mean to Iowa?

The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 1990. Director Phil Alden Robinson called Riedel on Oscar night to thank her.

“I said, 'What are you calling me for, you're going to the Academy Awards,'” Riedel said. “He said, 'I wouldn't be going to the Academy Awards if you hadn't found that place.'”

For Riedel, the most personal moment came years later when she took her 95-year-old father, her former softball coach, to the field to play catch one last time.

“So yeah, even girls have that experience,” she said.

The Field of Dreams site has become a major tourism draw for Dyersville and Dubuque County, and MLB's annual game brings national attention and economic activity to the region. This year's game features 25-plus Hall of Famers in attendance.

Riedel will be at Thursday's game, marveling at how her summer volunteer work created a lasting legacy.

“It was a great summer job, and I taught high school, so I thought I'd just have some great stories to tell my students,” Riedel said. “Little did I know that I'd be talking about it years later. Building a baseball field in the middle of nowhere, who would think ... and now we built another baseball field in the middle of nowhere. And we're having a Major League game. I just think that's amazing.”