New Pickleball Courts, Hockey Rink To Be Unveiled In Riverhead

RIVERHEAD, NY — Pickleball fans, rejoice! Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter and other town officials will gather Saturday for the ribbon cutting of new pickleball courts and the hockey rink.

The ceremony will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Stotzky Park hockey rinks on Pulaski Street.

Riverhead Town has resurfaced the hockey rink at Stotzky Park to host pickleball and hockey, including roller hockey and deck hockey.

The courts will officially be open to the public on Saturday after the ribbon cutting.

“Many of our residents are avid pickleball players and they asked the town to install official courts,” said Walter. “I am very happy that we were able to accommodate their request so quickly."

The new rink will now also contain five official pickleball courts as the growing demand for the sport has increased each year, Walter said.

"Since 2013, pickleball has been the fastest growing sport in our town — and Long Island — as we now host annual tournaments, weekly leagues/open courts, seasonal clinics and the new ladder league, which sold out with 75 participants in its debut back in June," a release from Walter's office said.

The new surface, Street Ice (S/I-3), is "a full bodied, high performance" acrylic latex coating designed by the DecoTurf company, engineered specifically for the high impact sport of in-line skating; the surface is more suitable for roller hockey than the previous surface since it's formulated to resist the abrasion expected on a competition-level in-line or street hockey facility, the release added.

The $20,000 cost of resurfacing and striping project was paid for via savings that were realized after the completion of the new playground equipment installed at EPCAL; all funds originated from developers' fees are placed into a parks and recreation fund, Walter said.

Patch courtesy file photo.