The Recreation & Parks Department has been collaborating with a citizen group, Pickleball Players, to raise $150,000 to install six new pickleball courts at Living Memorial Park. Rec & Parks has contracted DMI Paving to install the new courts at Living Memorial Park. The pickleball construction project is anticipated to break ground in late September 2025.

The current tennis courts, which were installed in the 1970s, are at a point where they can no longer be repaired. It has been recommended that the courts be completely refurbished. Over the years the two tennis courts have been repainted, and the cracks have been sealed several times. 

With the interest in pickleball growing over the past several years, Rec & Parks looked at many options, including tennis-only courts, pickleball-only courts, or a combo pickleball/tennis. It was determined that best option for the community was to build six new pickleball courts at Living Memorial Park and work with Brattleboro Union High School on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the use of their courts for Tennis. 

This turned out to be a win-win for the community. There are six beautiful tennis courts at Brattleboro Union High School, and with this project, there will be six dedicated pickleball courts at Living Memorial Park. In January of 2025, Rec & Parks signed an MOU with Brattleboro Union High School for public use of their six tennis courts.

In the fall of 2024, the Rec & Parks put together a group of interested pickleball players and launched a capital fund drive to raise $150,000 to install six new pickleball courts at Living Memorial Park. With $30,000 from the Special Projects Fund as seed money for the Capital Fund Drive, it gave the department the momentum that was needed to get the fundraising efforts off the ground.

To date over $141,000 has been raised for this project. Any funds left over after construction will be used for benches, signage, and beatification. 

Below is the breakdown as to where the funding has come from: