ABOVE: A look at the pickleball court at Veterans Park in Fairmont. Several avid pickleball players in the community expressed concerns over the condition of the courts, predominately the peeling surface, with the Park Board on Tuesday.
FAIRMONT– A concern about the condition of the pickleball courts, located at Veterans Park in Fairmont, went to the Park Board Tuesday evening.
Bill Crawford, a regular pickleball player, shared that there’s a group of about 20 to 30 people who meet to play on Tuesday nights. He said when the weather is bad the group will play at Bethel in Fairmont.
“We were overjoyed when you guys converted the one tennis court to pickleball, but our main concern is the main surface is just peeling off. It’s not good,” Crawford said.
He questioned whether the company that did the work sealed any of the cracks. Street and Park Superintendent, Nick Lardy, said that he was told the company would do that, but he acknowledged the poor condition that the court is in.
“I have a bid from another company to get it redone,” Lardy said.
City council liaison Randy Lubenow said part of the issue was that they couldn’t find a company to do the work at a reasonable price, so he found a person from Blue Earth to do it.
“Unfortunately it didn’t work, but I think the whole time I’ve been on Park Board people have been asking for the courts to be repaved. We probably can’t spend $100,000 or $200,000 to repave the courts,” Lubenow said.
Crawford also asked whether some temporary striping could be done on the other tennis court at Veterans Park. He said a few weeks ago the pickleball courts were filled and another group was playing pickleball on the tennis court.
“We could fill four courts some nights. We certainly enjoy having the ability to play outside more,” Crawford said.
He also said he thinks looking into an online RSVP system could be worthwhile so people could reserve a court ahead of time.
“We have our group, and there’s a fairly large other group, so an online system could be advantageous,” said Crawford.
Board Member Jodie Whitmore suggested the group check with Community Education and Recreation (CER). Board Member Monica Shelgren said she had spoken with CER and that the organization would be interested in having an introductory class.
“I think it’s a good idea to get this officially more organized. I didn’t know you guys existed,” said Shelgren.
Whitmore said she wants to stay ahead of this and noted that Fairmont is already behind when it comes to pickleball.
“Communities all over have them (courts). They have teams. There’s a pickleball store at Mall of America,” she said.
Circling back to the condition of the courts, the board noted that the subsurface is decent, though the cracks are the main concern.
“If we don’t seal them up and we start breaking up what we’ve got, it’s only going to get worse going forward. The surface itself, what’s there, is reasonable,” Crawford said.
He added that he would reach out to CER about working on an RSVP system.
Moving to other matters, Lardy said that his crew has torn out the Hengen Street playground equipment and will be replacing it with new equipment.
Lardy also said that the sealed bids were open this week for the roof replacement of the Sylvania Park Bandshell and work will soon begin on that. The cost of the project is $106,000.
It was also shared that a pollinator plot, which was discussed at last month’s meeting, is going to move forward. The plot will be funded with grants secured by Martin Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)
“I met with Jesse (Walters) and he has a spot picked out. It will be in the southwest corner of Amber Park. It’s pretty good sized,” Lardy said.
An update from CER said that there are 80 children registered for flag football. There will be seven Fairmont teams and one Martin County West team. The start date is Sept. 5 and the program will run through Oct. 3 at the Fairmont Soccer Complex.
The CER park playground program also wraps up this week with the last day being today. The program saw about 15 to 20 children on average everyday and in addition to the program coordinator, two summer interns helped out and the Fairmont Police Department interns also stopped to spend time with the children most days.