(Okoboji)– A ribbon cutting ceremony was held this (Fri.) morning for the newly constructed pickleball courts at Speier Park in Okoboji. Terry Kounkel was among those that served on a committee that raised more than $250,000 for the project in just a matter of months. He says they’re thrilled to see the final product…
“You look out here today how many young kids are out here playing and how many new people in the sport are here and the turnout that came here for it. We’re just so thrilled to have it come here, and I think within a year they’ll be talking about more courts here because I think there’s that much enthusiasm for the sport. I get calls every couple of days from people, visitors coming in from Minnesota, wherever else, saying are your courts open, when can we play, or do we have to pay? There’s a lot of interest in it so we’re just extremely enthused about it and happy that it’s here now.”
Kounkel says there are still a few more amenities they plan to put in…
“We want to put bicycle racks in and little things like that. The big thing we’d like to do next is put some kind of a shaded gazebo or something like here for people because pickleball people, it is a social sport, and they like to come and just mingle and have fun. You know families or even couples or whatever, so actually we’re going to have one night a week starting now, Thursday nights we’re going to encourage anybody or any families to come and just mingle or whatever. With COVID that’s a little bit of a problem but we’ll see how we do with families and then if we get more and more we’ll add more and more nights to it, so.”
Kounkel expressed the committee’s gratitude to the donors on the project, along with the city of Okoboji and the Okoboji Foundation that helped make the pickle ball courts possible.
