Huron's pickleball courts ready for play

HURON — Rallying around one another, those working to upgrade Fabens Park's tennis courts appreciate the collaborative approach taken. Work recently wrapped up on repairing the courts, which included introducing pickleball playing areas. Doug Steinwart, operations manager for Huron's parks and recreation department, gave an overview of the public land's layout. "Fabens Park has five tennis courts and six regulation-striped pickleball courts within the three tennis court system with mobile nets and two tennis-only courts," he said. A ribbon-cutting ceremony should take place in the spring. People, however, are welcome to play on the courts now. Making sense of the dollars and cents Starting about a year ago, work entailed "ripping out the existing surfaces of the tennis courts, repairing the base, installing brand new tennis court surfaces as well as new striping," said Huron city manager Matt Lasko, adding how crews also installed fencing and new drainage system around these courts. Construction costs totaled about $500,000. The overall expense breaks down with: • About $94,000 coming from the Huron Joint Recreation District, a partnership between the city, Huron Township and Huron Schools • About $100,000 coming from local funds through Huron Township's budget • The remainder, about $306,000, coming from local funds through Huron's budget Huron officials expressed their appreciation to township, school and other community members for believing in this project. "This has been talked about for a very long time and never came to fruition," city services director Stu Hamilton said. Before work started, "The courts (had) deteriorated fast in the last few years," Hamilton said. "But with the commitment and leadership from our parks and recreation department and our partnerships with Huron Township and the Huron Joint Recreation Department, we were finally able to make this a reality. We would like to thank our partners, without whom this project would not be possible."