Pickleball Courts come to Glenwood Recreational Park
May 6—PRINCETON — Six courts for a game that's growing in popularity across the country are being installed at a Mercer County park while other work continues to improve the park's facilities and prepare it for a major dam restoration project.
Six pickleball courts have been installed at Glenwood Recreation Park near Princeton, Commissioner Greg Puckett said.
"We've got them finalized," he stated.
The courts are temporarily available for playing while work such as finishing their playing surfaces is being completed.
"Once they're done, they'll have a special surface on them that will be a really high quality," Puckett said.
Pickleball is a simple game that has elements ping-pong, badminton and tennis, according to the USA Pickleball website.
The game can be played indoors or outdoors, by two people competing against one another or by teams of two. It's played on a badminton-sized court with nets similar to those used on tennis courts. Players use large paddles similar to ping-pong paddles to hit a plastic ball back and forth.
The new pickleball courts are located at the site of Glenwood Park's tennis courts.
A basketball court is located there as well, Puckett said. The courts will be open during the day. While the park now closes at dusk, there are plans to add lighting to the courts later.
Work on finalizing a new amphitheater in Glenwood Park's central field is continuing as well. Puckett said the county was also looking at installing a new playground as well.
The county plans to invest about $500,000 in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding in that part of the park.
Another upcoming project involves draining the park's lake so restoring its earthen dam can get underway. This project is expected to begin within two years.
"We know the lake will be drained," Puckett said. "We hope to establish some fishing derbies in the months and years to come and extract as many fish as possible. We encourage as much fishing as possible, and there's great fish in that park."
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
