Paramus opens four new pickleball courts, launching $1.3 million park upgrade

Paramus has opened four new pickleball courts at Petruska Park, turning a $1.3 million park-and-roadway package into a visible win for players before the rest of the work reaches two busy borough intersections.

The move fits a growing municipal pattern across pickleball country: towns are using dedicated courts as the first proof point inside larger capital projects. In Paramus, that matters because the borough did not just add lines to an existing surface. It built four courts at its main municipal park, signaling that pickleball now sits alongside transportation and public-space upgrades, not outside them.

Petruska Park gives the courts a central address at 475 Farview Avenue, north of Midland Avenue, and the park already carries the weight of a true community hub. Paramus Borough identifies it as the home of the recreation office and a place with baseball and little league fields, playground equipment for all ages, a handball wall, picnic tables and a lighted basketball and roller hockey court. That mix makes the new pickleball complex easy to fold into a full parks visit rather than a single-purpose stop.

The timing also helps. Paramus Recreation was already running adult pickleball classes at Petruska Park starting April 16, with sessions scheduled through May 28 and instruction provided by NJ Sports Academy. The posted prices, $160 for foundation sessions and $190 for advanced morning sessions, show there was enough interest to support organized programming even before the courts opened. For local players, that means the borough did not have to guess at demand; it had already built a spring schedule around it.

The courts also mark the end point of a longer local buildout. A 2023 report said Paramus would get its first pickleball court, and Bergen County had already floated added striping at county facilities, including three courts in Van Saun Park in Paramus. What opened at Petruska Park on April 23 is bigger than a single amenity. It is the borough catching up to a sport that has already moved from novelty to infrastructure.

For Bergen County players, Petruska Park is now worth the stop. It offers four dedicated courts in a centrally located town park, plus the kind of surrounding amenities that make a court trip easier to turn into a full outing. With the broader project still set to reach roadway work at two intersections, Paramus is also betting that pickleball can help anchor a wider civic upgrade while giving players a reliable place to play this spring.