Opelousas to open new pickleball courts at South City Park
Opelousas opened its new pickleball courts at South City Park on Tuesday, adding a public play space next to the beach volleyball area.
South City Park added a new pickleball stop on Tuesday as Opelousas marked the grand opening of courts beside the beach volleyball area at 11:30 a.m. The public was invited to attend, giving the city a visible new access point for a sport that keeps pulling in more casual players, school groups and league use.
The opening was paired with a student celebration and field day that began at 9:45 a.m., with Creswell Middle School students taking part. Louisiana Healthcare Connections backed the pickleball project with $150,000 in funding support, and State Representative Dustin Miller helped build the partnership between the city and the sponsor. That combination matters because it turned the courts into more than a park upgrade: it created a funded, public-facing place to play.
The city has framed the project as part of a broader push to improve South City Park and expand safe, healthy, family-friendly recreation. St. Landry Now reported the courts are expected to serve students from area schools, youth sports leagues and community members of all ages, which gives Opelousas a clearer pathway for regular open play and organized programming. In a sport where court access often decides how fast a local scene grows, that kind of public-space expansion is the real win.
The pickleball addition also lands in the middle of a much larger transformation at South City Park. Ground was broken on February 9, 2026, for a new 18,000-square-foot community center budgeted at $4.6 million and funded through the GUMBO 1.0 program with support from ConnectLA. Local development reporting has also described South City Park as having undergone a major shift over the past two years, including an approximately $8 million park project funded primarily by the Opelousas Downtown Development District.
Taken together, the courts and the community center point to a park that is becoming a real recreation hub for Opelousas. The pickleball build gives the city a dedicated place for the sport now, and the broader redevelopment suggests there is more coming for players who have been waiting for a better home court.
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