Wynne seeks bids for downtown pickleball courts and food truck area

Wynne is moving its downtown pickleball plan into the bidding stage with a project that is bigger than a court build. The city is seeking sealed bids for a Downtown Pickleball Court and Food Truck Area Project that calls for four outdoor pickleball courts, food-truck accommodations, demolition, site preparation, concrete work, fencing, landscaping, utility connections and related recreational amenities.

Bids are due June 9 at 10:00 a.m. at Wynne City Hall, and the city says they will be publicly opened and read aloud immediately after the deadline. The bid documents also say the city reserves the right to reject any or all bids and waive irregularities, while encouraging participation from minority-owned, women-owned and small business enterprises.

The food-truck piece is what gives the project its most distinctive shape. Rather than dropping isolated courts into a vacant parcel, Wynne is building around the idea that players will stay, eat and linger downtown after games, lessons and league nights. That turns the site into a social stop as much as a recreation amenity, with the courts and the truck area working together to pull traffic into the center of town.

The site itself has been part of Wynne’s downtown planning for more than a year. Earlier discussions placed the courts on a deeded downtown parcel tied to First Financial Bank, with Merriman Avenue between First Financial Bank and the Cross County Library cited as a proposed location. An alternate site at the Wynne Sports Complex was also discussed as a cheaper option, but the city has continued to focus on the downtown parcel.

That parcel carries its own deadline pressure. The property was deeded to the city by First Financial Bank for the pickleball project, and local reporting said it would have to be put to use within two years or be returned. In June 2025, Mayor Jennifer Hobbs said the city had budgeted $50,000 for the project but expected the final cost to be much higher, which sent officials looking for grants and fundraising support.

Wynne Parks & Recreation worked with Ecological Design Group and Wynne Economic Development on the effort, and the city held a public interest meeting, launched a survey and applied for a Lowe’s Hometowns grant. Against that backdrop, the current bid call is more than a construction step. It is the point where Wynne’s downtown pickleball idea starts to look less like a concept and more like a place people will actually gather.