Pickleball Courts opening next summer
August 19, 2024, 11:02 am
Ashley Bochek
The Town of Moosomin is working on fundraising for four pickleball courts at Bradley Park.
Mike Schwean of Moosomin Parks and Rec says they have had a lot of support from the community for the courts, and are getting close to their fundraising goal.
“We need about $120,000 for the four pickleball courts,” Schwean said. “Doing the initial prep work is $20,000 and the town is going to do that for us. We have $17,700 from a Kingston Midstream grant for the fencing. The Moose Fraternity gave $10,000. Tyler Thorn gave $10,000 and Darcy Rambold gave $5,000 and we got a Participaction grant of $2,500 worth of equipment. We allocated $2,300 from a Lotto grant and individual donors have given $7,000. So in total we have raised just under $75,000. So that leaves us about $45,000 to do everything. That will cover everything, the asphalt, fencing, lighting, trees, and finishing.
Schwean says fundraising has been going well.
“We have been doing pretty good. We have quite a few grants outstanding, Agri Spirit Fund we applied for $15,000 and New Horizons Grant was $25,000 and HelpAge Canada was $10,000. So if some of those come in, that will help a lot too.”
Schwean explains each pickleball court can be paid for with a sponsorship.
“The cost is $10,000 if you sponsor a court or $5,000 to sponsor half a court. So, we are still looking at a couple more courts to be covered. We’re hoping to have a donors night after harvest, like a barbecue to say thank you. We’re hoping to raise some more, and then if we get extra money we can do a little bit nicer or bigger rest area for the players.”
Schwean says the asphalt will be started this fall. “My concern was we wouldn’t have enough to pay for the asphalt because if we don’t get the asphalt done this fall then we have to wait until next year, but we have enough to cover that now, so we have to make sure we get that done. It is the town pavers who will be doing it, so whenever they come they will be doing it. That will get done now and then over the winter we can fundraise more if we need to.”
He says they would like to have the pickleball courts open for the beginning of next summer.
“The grants are also slow—we won’t know until the fall. We would like to have a grand opening July 1 next year.”
Schwean says he thinks the pickleball courts will be a well utilized addition to the park and community.
“If we get it paved this fall then we would still have to wait on the sealant for next spring and then get it going for next summer. It has gone really well. Bill Thorn has done a lot of stuff for us and is helping us. I am happy it is going good and I think it will be a great addition to the park.”
“There will be four courts side-by-side running North and South to avoid the sun,” Schwean explained. “I envision the it being the Elks diamond, the pickleball, the teepee, then the playground all within a line of each other. We have done a bunch of drainage work—we have taken the drainage straight south so that it will be from golf world or fun area it will come across and then that creek runs all the way down and there will be bridges going across. It will look really nice once it is done.”
Schwean says he is sure the pickleball courts will be used lots.
“I think it will be used tons. We will have a shed there with all the pickleball stuff in so people can just grab a ball and racket and play. We are so tight on time at the convention centre we can’t give the pickleballers a lot of time and there are so many of them that work late and just can’t play because they can’t get there. So I know it will be busy and good for the community to have.”
