More pickleball courts could be in the Winamac Town Park’s future, but the town’s park board isn’t ready to give up on tennis, either. During Thursday’s meeting, Park Board President Courtney Poor said he’s heard from a couple people who’d like to see the Town Park’s remaining tennis court turned into two more pickleball courts.
But board member Brad Zellers said he wants the tennis court to stay. “After the flood and I knew things were getting cleaned up, I went down a couple times, and I should’ve took pictures. There were some people playing tennis,” he said. “They were just beating the ball around. They weren’t necessarily professional by any mean, but they were utilizing it. I can’t take that away for that reason. Tennis is a sport that’s been around a long time.”
Rather than getting rid of the tennis court, Zellers suggested building a brand new pickleball court near the existing ones, if there’s room. If that couldn’t be done without removing the tennis court, Zellers recommended building a new tennis court elsewhere.
Poor said he liked those ideas and raised the possibility that people might be willing to donate the necessary funds. “It seems like, there are organizations that are concerned about our children; look what they’re doing with the toddler playground equipment. There are a lot of people that are interested in the pickleball court. That doesn’t mean that we might not be able to get donations from folks of that nature to help with that,” Poor said. Board members also pointed out that the project may be eligible for a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant.
The Winamac Park Board plans to continue discussing the possibility of new pickleball courts at its next meeting.
