Newport Polo Club

News - Media Advisory - Farm Seeks Extension to Lease

For Immediate Release
Contact Dan Keating or Pam Dewell Smith
Subject: Glen Farm Polo Productions' Request for a nine-month extension of its lease of Glen Farm
When: Monday, September 18th 7:00 pm
Where: Portsmouth Town Council Meeting, Council Chambers Portsmouth Town Hall

Despite ten years' tenancy and an expenditure of over $600,000 in capital improvements by Glen Farm Polo Productions, Inc., organizers of the Newport International Polo Series, the Portsmouth Town Council has decided to award Glen Farm to an alternative consortium of individuals

The Newport International Polo Series has begun to look for a new location and has requested a nine months' extension of its current lease, which expires December 2000, in order to identify a new site and relocate the series, horses and players. In addition to being the home of horses and ponies of equestrians of all ages from throughout Aquidneck Island, Glen Farm has been the site of the only international polo series in the world.

The series continues a tradition of polo on Aquidneck Island that dates back to 1876, when J. Gordon Bennett organized the first polo match played in America at Breton Point in Newport. Ten years after that, the first international game in the world took place at the same location, giving international polo competition a longer history than the modern-day Olympics.

For additional information about the events leading up to Monday night's Town Council meeting visit the following website: http://www.glenfarm.com/update For further information about the Newport International Polo Series, including a schedule of the remaining matches this season, visit: http://www.glenfarm.com