Parks department officially opens new pickleball courts at Blue River Memorial Park

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The idea of adding pickleball courts to Blue River Memorial Park came several years ago. On Thursday, eight new courts were officially dedicated by the Shelbyville Parks and Recreation Department.

Several parks department staff, current Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson, other invited guests and members of the local pickleball club braved a brief rain shower to join in on the ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon.

“This is truly a project that kind of sprouted up at the end of mayor (Tom) DeBaun’s term and it was a true community effort that went into this project to make it work,” said Furgeson prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony (photo below) which took place on court 1 at the facility. “These are the kind of things we look forward to in the city of Shelbyville. We don’t want to do things halfway. We don’t want to do things on a dime budget and say that is all we can afford and that is all we can do. We need to do nice things and set standards for everybody in our community to do nice things. This is truly a beautiful facility and better than most facilities around here for pickleball.”

J.D. Martin has been an avid pickleball player for years now and is the current president of the Shelbyville Pickleball Club (Facebook: Shelbyville Indiana Pickleball) which is already 90 members strong.

“This is pretty good. The lights here are amazing, which nobody really has around here,” said Martin. “When you are here at night time it’s like you are playing during the day. It’s great.”

The pickleball facility features eight courts with a large shade structure along the east end that covers benches, tables and a water fountain.

“Pickleball has exploded in other communities and I don’t want people in our community having to go somewhere else to do something that we can do right here,” said parks department director Trisha Tackett.

The local pickleball association is already gearing up to host a June tournament that currently has 92 registered participants. For more information on the tournament, contact the parks department at 317-392-5128.

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