Mayor Sandy Stimpson and City Council Vice President Gina Gregory will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Lavretta Park at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, to celebrate Mobile’s newest public pickleball courts.
The ribbon cutting marks the end of a two-year project that has added six dedicated pickleball courts to Lavretta Park and made other significant upgrades to the park's infrastructure.
Those include additional parking, drainage and lighting improvements, a new players' pavilion, a drinking fountain, and enhanced landscaping throughout the property, according to the city.
Altogether, this project put more than $1 million into this beloved neighborhood using the City of Mobile’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
This project is part of a larger effort to expand pickleball facilities in City parks. Three new courts and similar upgrades were just completed at Hillsdale Park, thanks to the support of Councilwoman Gregory.
An ongoing project at Crawford-Murphy Park will bring another four courts online, and work is underway to renovate four existing courts at Stotts Park, according to the city. Through efforts by the Mobile Parks and Recreation Department (MPRD) and support from Mayor Stimpson and the city council, Mobile will soon have more than 20 dedicated public pickleball courts for residents to enjoy.
To showcase the city’s newest courts, MPRD will also host a Pickleball Clinic at Lavretta Park on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 9 to 11 a.m. This free event will introduce participants to the basic skills and fundamentals of the game.
Registration for the free Pickleball Clinic is available here.
Players of all ages are invited to come out and see the improvements in the park and learn one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States.
What is pickleball? Learn how to play in the video below from USA Pickleball (USAP) the national governing body for the sport of pickleball in the United States.
