St. Cloud Opens New Pickleball Courts, $5.6 Million in Upgrades at Whitney Regional Park

(KNSI) – St. Cloud city leaders cut the ribbon Wednesday morning on roughly $5.6 million in upgrades at Whitney Regional Park, then grabbed paddles for the first games on the park’s new eight-court pickleball complex.

City of St. Clloud Cassie (Cassandra) Woischke

Mayor Jake Anderson and City Administrator Tracy Hodel squared off against two players in a ceremonial first match, and many in the crowd stayed afterward to play. City Recreation Manager Marci Sussengut hopes the new courts keep drawing people to the park.

“It doesn’t cost anything, you can just come and play, and you don’t have to bring a group. You can hopefully just jump in and play with everyone.”

Along with the pickleball courts, crews widened the park’s trails from six to eight feet, repaved the trails and parking lots, and built an all-abilities playground. The project also added lighting throughout the park, including new lights on one softball field and upgraded lights on two others, a big change for adult softball leagues that drew 51 teams this summer and 30 this fall.

“With adding the lights on the softball baseball fields, we can have more games and go later into the evening, especially during the fall. It gets darker earlier. So we’re able to offer more fields available for the softball program.”

The work was paid for mainly through the voter-approved local option sales tax for regional parks and trails, along with donations. The group Northern Paddles raised $100,000 toward the pickleball complex. Knife River served as the general contractor.

Fundraising began in 2024 and construction started in 2025. Crews are finishing the last few items now, and the project should wrap up by the end of fall. Sussengut says a second phase, including new dugouts, is a long-term goal, but there’s no timeline for it yet.

Whitney Regional Park covers 142 acres on the site of the former Alice Whitney Memorial Airport on the north edge of St. Cloud. It’s also home to the Whitney Recreation Center, the Whitney Senior Center, and the St. Cloud Area YMCA.

___