Work ahead of schedule for Welcome pickleball

WELCOME - Welcome's take on pickleball is in full swing, as construction on their new courts at Hansen-Keck Park has begun ahead of schedule.

The process started in 2022. Welcome City Councilor Lynda Stauter said the idea came from Millie Garbers, who said the city could use a pickleball court. The ball then got rolling with the project being approved by the city council.

"We hunted out for donations and wanted to look for a partner with us to get a pickleball court in place," Stauter said. "Valero gave a generous donation, and we were able to add in from the city funds and make it happen."

In addition, other projects, like the parent-child swings and new animal spring riders for the kids at Hansen-Keck Park, were being done in the interim, which took up city time and resources.

Through adding the courts, Stauter said they want to see more optimization and utilization of Welcome's parks.

"I think it will bring more people together," she said. "We’re hopeful maybe to get our festival back again at some point. That would be a draw too. Maybe have some tournaments, some contests, that kind of thing down the road. I know there’s other people working on those things. To add to our parks is always a plus. We don’t want to have funds just sitting there and not improve for our future generations."

The total cost for the courts is $54,000. Stauter said $20,000 came from Valero and the rest was raised by the city, including some funds that came from an interesting discovery.

"We were discussing how the park across from City Hall wasn’t named, and why it wasn’t named," she said. "As we tracked back to past minutes, we came across a donation that was given from the Welcome Legion that, if the park was named after the Welcome Legion, there were earmarked funds for Parks and Rec. We were able to find the tracking back and history of that, and then we could move forward."

The court is a tournament-spec 30×60-foot court with a border around it. Welcome Public Works Foreman Max Longley said it will have a vinyl paint coating overlay with standard-sized netting and a four-foot chain link fence around it.

Work recently started on July 23 and the surface has already been completed. Stauter said this is well ahead of schedule, since it was originally believed the concrete could not be poured until the end of August. Now, Longley said they are in a required waiting period.

"This has to sit for 28 days before the surfacing company can come in," he said. "The concrete has to release all its heat before they can paint it. Once it’s done curing, about 28 days from today, they’ll come in. They’ll surface it, seal it. The nets will go in shortly thereafter, and then the fence will go up. It’ll be probably about a week, and the whole thing will culminate all at one time as soon as the concrete’s fully cured."

This means the project should be completed by around late August, early September. To bring an amenity like this to a small town like Welcome, Stauter said she appreciates being on the boards and seeing improvements to the town.

"If you look around, you can see some great improvements that have come forth and shaped up," she said. "I think it’s fun to see that happen."