Mountain Home community center adds year-round indoor pickleball courts

Mountain Home players now have something the sport always prizes: dependable indoor court time. The new Mountain Home Community Center opened with year-round climate-controlled space for pickleball, and its gymnasium can be converted from three basketball courts into as many as nine pickleball courts.

That flexibility matters in a town where weather, school schedules and seasonal shutdowns can shrink available gym time fast. The center gives pickleball a permanent place inside a larger recreation footprint that also serves volleyball, basketball and walking. With day passes and memberships available, the facility is set up for both casual drop-ins and regular play, and the public has been welcomed throughout the day since the opening.

Access began with a members-only soft opening on May 23 and May 24, before the center opened to the public on May 25 from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. The broad schedule continues with weekday and weekend hours, making the facility one of the most usable indoor options in Baxter County for players who need a steady place to compete and practice. For pickleball, the key advantage is simple: more hours on court, fewer weather-related cancellations and a much cleaner path to organized play.

The building is built to do more than host games. When carpet is rolled out over the hardwood, the space can hold up to 1,000 guests, turning the gym into a venue for large events as well as recreation. Above the gym sits an indoor walking track with two lanes for walkers and runners and views of the pool area, another sign that the center was designed as a true multipurpose complex rather than a single-sport stop.

The project itself reflects how much the city invested to get here. Mountain Home voters approved a half-cent sales tax in March 2021 to fund the Mountain Home Community and Aquatic Center at McCabe Park, along with a separate quarter-cent tax for parks maintenance and operations. Built over three years, the $36.2 million project passed by just 47 votes and was described as the city’s biggest-ever community project. With the indoor courts now open, Mountain Home has added a reliable home for pickleball at a time when the sport continues to expand nationwide and indoor access has become one of the game’s most valuable commodities.