New Pickleball, Basketball Courts To Be Unveiled At Darien Park

DARIEN, CT — The town will officially unveil four new pickleball courts and a new basketball court at Cherry Lawn Park in Darien this weekend.

According to Parks and Recreation Program Supervisor Jami Gore, a single tennis court at the park was recently transformed into four pickleball courts due to the increasing popularity of the sport in town.

"The project had been one requested by a small group of residents for the last few years," Gore said in an email. "The town had a long-term plan to install courts, but the sport has grown in popularity quickly. The residents decided to solicit for private funding with the town's support and were quickly successful."

The project was completed within a year of the funding efforts, Gore said.

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said the town is always happy to provide new or improved amenities for Darien residents.

"Cherry Lawn is a well-loved park," Stevenson said, "and these new courts will serve people of all ages for years to come."

The four new pickleball courts at Cherry Lawn Park are currently the only ones in town, and the department will look for opportunities to potentially add more courts in the future as demand continues to grow, Gore said.

"Pickleball in Darien is consistently growing in popularity," Gore said. "The Parks and Recreation lesson program has continued to grow along with the requests for open play."

Gore said both new court projects gained momentum as a result of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, during which there was an increase in people playing pickleball in town, though she noted traffic also increased at most of Darien's outdoor facilities during this timeframe.

"Therefore, this also created a strong argument to reconstruct the basketball court that could not be played on at that point in time," Gore said. "People needed to get outside and recreate, and we wanted to make every effort to offer those opportunities to the community."

The courts will be unveiled during two ribbon cutting ceremonies Sunday afternoon. The ribbon cutting at the pickleball courts will take place at 2 p.m. and the basketball court ribbon cutting is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

The event will also feature games at both courts, free instruction with professionals, raffles and light refreshments, as well as open play on the courts at 3 p.m.

Gore said the department thanks community members Sean Shay, Dave Sealy, Patti Bumgardner, Steve O'Connell and Valli Baker, as well as the Darien Athletic Foundation and other community donors that helped make these new courts a reality.