VIDALIA — For many, the groundbreaking ceremony for Vidalia’s new recreation complex will mark the official start to bringing top-of-the-line recreation to the city.

To the crews at Womack and Sons Construction though, it’s another day on a job they started more than two weeks ago, and the ceremony is a reminder of all the work they have left to complete.

Since July 22, a crew of approximately 20 men from the Harrisonburg-based company has been hard at work on the $6.5 million complex located off U.S. 84 near Walmart.

Chase Womack of Womack and Sons said his crew has mainly been completing dirt work for the complex.

“We have 12 to 15 dump trucks hauling around 2,500 cubic yards of dirt a day,” he said.

Womack said the entire complex is going to require between 80,000 and 100,000 cubic yards of dirt, and as of Tuesday, the crew was more than a tenth of the way there.

“We have 12,000 yards done,” he said. “We are getting there.”

With all of this dirt flying around, Womack said the crews only problem has been dealing with dusty conditions.

The crew has 259 days, excluding bad weather days, to complete the project that is scheduled for completion in late summer 2012.

Less than a football field away, crews from Clark Construction of McComb will continue work on the city’s new municipal complex.

“This all depends on the weather, but we are still looking at moving in to the new municipal complex by January,” Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

Crews have been working since November to build the complex, and with the walls to the facility up, Copeland said the work has now shifted to the inside of the building.

“The majority of the exterior work is complete,” he said. “Now they are doing things like putting up sheet rock laying drywall.”

Copeland said Clark has also started pouring concrete for the complex’s roads.

“This dry weather we have been having may be making things hot, but it has helped keep construction of the (municipal) complex ahead of schedule,” he said.

Copeland said both complexes are major projects for the city, and they will bring a value to Vidalia like no other.

“We have a lot of things going on right now, but everything is looking great,” he said. “Everyone is doing a tremendous job, and the Miss-Lou is going to be blessed when these projects are complete.”