Tim Harty, The Business Times

Randee Bergen started playing pickleball at Lincoln Park about 11 years ago when there were only four courts there to play a sport that was steadily growing and gaining a foothold nationally.

Not long after that, the pickleball craze dwarfed the court availability, which in turn quelled Bergen’s desire to keep playing.

“It got so crowded, you couldn’t get on the court really, so I quit,” Bergen said.

A year ago, she returned to Lincoln Park and resumed playing pickleball where tennis courts once prevailed, but now only pickleball courts are to be found, 20 of them.

The 59-year-old is glad to be back with paddle in hand, part of a group of 12 people who “pretty consistently” play pickleball about three days per week at Lincoln Park.

A former racquetball player, Bergen said pickleball is fun, and she likes the social aspects of the sport. And she likes that her group can almost always get on a court during the morning or early afternoon, but it still gets busy.

The number of pickleball courts in the Grand Valley mushroomed a year ago, when the City of Grand Junction added 12 courts to the eight it had in years prior, and Chipeta Golf Course tore up its tennis courts to put in eight pickleball courts.

Then, this year Fruita added four outdoor courts near the town’s recreation center, which depending on the time of the year, has two to four indoor pickleball courts available. And Fruita has plans – probably several years away, according to Parks and Rec Director Marc Mancuso – to install eight pickleball courts at Little Salt Wash Park.

Pickleball keeps growing, and there’s some money to be made from it. As a private enterprise, Chipeta Golf Course obviously figured that out, but so has the City of Grand Junction.

It’s difficult to get real counts on participation on the city’s pickleball courts, because the outdoor courts, unlike the indoor courts at the Lincoln Park Barn and Bookcliff Activity Center, are all drop-in play, which is free.

But Lincoln Park also hosts tournaments and programs, such as lessons, and those do allow for revenue tracking.

Hence, the city provided numbers showing revenues and expenses, and this stood out:

Until 2024 and the addition of 12 pickleball courts for a total of 20, the city’s previous high year for pickleball revenue was $6,521 in 2022, offset by expenses of $5,216.

In 2024, the revenue total was $19,717, with expenses of $5,597.60. That’s a net of $14,119.40.

Regardless of revenues, which are a mere drop in the bucket in the big picture, the City of Grand Junction knew it needed to expand its pickleball offerings, because the demand clearly was there. However, to make Lincoln Park the pickleball complex it is today, the city had to appease the tennis crowd, which still needed its place to play.

The compromise was a $2 million project in which the tennis community relinquished its four courts at Lincoln Park, so pickleball could expand to 20 dedicated courts. Then, the city added four new tennis courts to Canyon View Park, giving it a total of 12 tennis courts. Canyon View Park also got light poles, where none had been before, with LED lights, and Lincoln Park’s lights at the pickleball courts were upgraded to LED.

The lighting, by the way, “was quite a large expense,” according to Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou, because although the tennis courts at Canyon View Park “were stubbed for lighting, there were no light poles, and there was no lighting present. So, that’s been a huge improvement to the tennis community and one that was really important for them being supportive of the conversion of the four (tennis) courts at Lincoln, and I think that project has been such a success.”

Sherbenou said pretty much all communities “are grappling with the explosion in pickleball,” and the trend has been to repurpose tennis courts, which leads to animosity and conflict between tennis and pickleball. He said that conflict “really doesn’t help anybody since they’re sister sports. They’re very similar, and a lot of tennis players become pickleball players, so there’s really no reason for the conflict.”

Sherbenou thinks the compromise yielded a “positive-sum solution” that speaks well of Grand Junction’s tennis and pickleball communities, and both received improved facilities as a result.

More pickleball courts are coming as the Grand Junction Community Recreation Center, which is eyeing completion in mid-2026, will have nine indoor pickleball courts. The pickleball courts will be on courts also used for basketball and volleyball, but the timing of play is such that Sherbenou thinks the court sharing will work out well. Many of the other uses tend to be needed more in the evenings and on weekends.

In terms of demographics, Sherbenou said, a lot of retirees play pickleball and do so at a time when kids are in school and working adults are at work.

“So, it’s been a really great way to achieve utilization through the middle of the workday, during the middle of the school day, for gyms and recreation centers,” he said. “And we’re definitely gonna see that when our facility opens next year.”

Another justification for the city’s expansion of pickleball courts is the economic impact, and Sherbenou said there absolutely is one.

“It definitely has an impact for people deciding about where they want to live,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that look at the pickleball structure and facilities before they decide to buy (a home) or take a trip.”

Count Western Slope Pickleball Club President Jeffrey Smith among those steered to Grand Junction by pickleball.

“I moved here because of the courts,” he said, and that was before all of the new courts that popped up since the start of 2024.

For another measure of the sports’ growth, Smith said the Western Slope Pickleball Club’s membership in 2018 was under 300. Now, it has 780 members.

Smith also thinks the growth is going to continue, because as soon as those new pickleball courts were available at Lincoln Park last year, they were filled with players.

That’s why, as thrilled as he was to see the recent increase in courts, he knows this: Grand Junction is going to need more soon.

Grand Junction Pickleball numbers

Pickleball Usage and Revenue

It’s difficult, actually not even remotely possible, to provide numbers for pickleball usage at the City of Grand Junction’s pickleball courts. That’s because the outdoor courts are mostly used by drop-in players.

But the city’s interim communications and engagement director, Hannah Ellis, gathered what she could and shared it. And no one at The Business Times can explain or present it better than she did, so with our thanks to Hannah, here it is:

Court usage

These numbers include the drop-in pickleball at the Bookcliff Activity Center, pickleball clinics and the tournament run by the city (note: this event was not held in 2023 or 2024 due to court construction). The largest part of the number is related to indoor pickleball usage at Bookcliff Activity Center.

Because of the expanded new facility at Lincoln Park, the indoor pickleball number reduced greatly. This occurred because residents would rather play drop-in for free at the 20-court Lincoln Park complex versus indoors at Bookcliff Activity Center, where they are required to pay. The past two winters have also been nice, with the ability to play pickleball outside during most of the winter. When we have nice winters, our indoor numbers drop, and with the amazing facility at Lincoln Park, most players are skipping indoors as much as they can and opting to play outdoors at Lincoln Park.

Usage numbers

2014 – 940 participant visits.

2019 – 1,804 participant visits.

2022 – 3,394 participant visits.

2023 – 4,358 participant visits.

2024 – 4,244 participant visits.

2025 – 4,445 participant visits (year to date as of April 11).

Revenues and expenses

These are strictly program figures and do not reflect any drop-in use, which is difficult to track.

2020 – Revenue: $2,235; 

            Expenses: $1,788.

2021 – Revenue: $3,780; 

            Expenses: $3,024.

2022 – Revenue: $6,521; 

            Expenses: $5,216.

2023 – Revenue: $4,550; 

            Expenses: $3,640.

2024 – Activity revenue: $9,172; Facility revenue: $10,545 (various reservations); Expenses: $5,597.60.