After several years of development, the city of Sedona held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to open the eight new pickleball courts at Posse Grounds Park, recently completed at a cost of $1.6 million.
About 75 people were in attendance and immediately broke into games on all eight of the new courts following the ceremony.
“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” Sedona Pickleball Club member Julie Krasemann said.
“Prior to this, we had the courts that just shared the tennis court at Posse Grounds, and the two courts at Sunset [Park] that share the basketball court,” Parks and Recreation Manager Josh Frewin said. “It’s been a request from the citizens for six or seven years to have permanent pickleball courts, and finally, it’s coming true. We did a community survey of all the neighborhoods around here to find the best location [at Posse Grounds] … The consensus, almost unanimously, was here for sound barrier from houses, as well as just the location and being able to add this parking spot here.”
The courts and the new parking spaces are located on what was previously the north softball field. City staff stated during the pickleball court planning process that there had been decreased interest in softball and the recreational softball league has since consolidated its games onto the remaining field.
“Patti Childers has been a great voice for this project,” Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow said. “The fact that we have the dark sky lighting is nice. … These are on a timer, so when you play, you have to make sure you keep the light on, but then when you’re done, [they] won’t stay on.”
Work on the courts is continuing, and Frewin said windscreens and a backstop will be installed in the next two weeks; temporary closures may be required while that work is done.
“There could be a ramada,” Frewin said. “[That] is going to be one of our proposals that’ll be in the next budget year … Scoreboards or things like that could come in the future, but it hasn’t been a requested item yet, but if that’s something people are looking for, we’re open to all those suggestions as we move forward.”
City staff planned to construct 50 new parking spaces to serve pickleballers, but Frewin said the number was reduced to 32 to better accommodate the flow of traffic. The existing stalls will remain unpaved.
“There is potential to add additional parking on the other side of the street,” Frewin said, referring to the space between the Hub and Carruth Drive. “That was proposed as part of the pickle ball as like a phase two. So that could be in the future, but that’s not confirmed yet.”
USA Pickleball District Ambassador for Northern Arizona Christine Sturgeon was on hand to present Jablow with a “golden ball” necklace for his work “to prioritize the building of these new courts.”
“We all know we live in a special place, and now we have one of the best pickleball play sites in Northern Arizona,” Sturgeon said.
“It’ll just be open as, like, open play, first serve for the most part, “ Frewin said. “We’ll continue our program that we call POP, which is the pickleball open play, which is kind of two hours in the morning, two hours in the evening, and the time changes based on the season. It’s a time where anyone can just come play, and we have organized games going on. So if you’re new to it, or an advanced player, you can come find a group to play with.”
A Sedona pickleball tournament will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27, organized by the Parks and Recreation Department and the company Pickleball is Great. Those interested in joining the Sedona Pickleball Club can contact Krasemann at (928) 300-5501 or at julie.k@drkphoto.com for more information.
Don’t leave the gates ajar.
The Sedona City Council directed staff last week to begin preparing new Land Development Code language to restrict pickleball courts on private property. For that story, please click this link.
