Peachtree City opens 18 new pickleball courts at Jim Meade Memorial Park

Peachtree City is about to add a major new stop on the amateur pickleball map: 18 brand-new outdoor courts at Jim Meade Memorial Park, a build the city has described as one of the largest dedicated pickleball complexes in the region. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for Friday, May 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Jim Meade Memorial Fields, 101 Rockaway Road, and the city is not treating it like a quiet facilities upgrade. It is pitching the opening as an invitation to “be part of the first serves, first rallies, and first wins.”

The timing matters because the opening immediately rolls into competition. Peachtree City’s calendar also lists a free Meade Grand Opening Pickleball Tournament for Saturday, May 9, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Registration opens Friday, April 17, at 9:00 a.m., first come, first served, and the city says prizes will be awarded for each division. For a sport built on volume, repetition and court access, the value of 18 dedicated courts is hard to overstate. It means more room for league play, more room for beginners, and far less of the scheduling friction that comes when pickleball has to borrow time from other sports.

This project has been moving for months. The city said it would break ground on October 17, 2025, after issuing June 2025 procurement documents for design-build services and holding a non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting on July 8, 2025, at the Meade Field Complex. A bid addendum listed the pickleball budget at $770,000, and The Citizen reported that the project was made possible through the 2023 SPLOST. Those numbers explain why this is being framed as a serious public investment, not just another recreation amenity.

Jim Meade Memorial Park already functions as a full-scale athletic site. The park includes seven lighted softball fields, two lighted lacrosse fields, concessions and restrooms, and the city lists its hours as dawn to dusk except for special events. Adding a dedicated pickleball complex into that setting gives Peachtree City a rare kind of multi-sport anchor, one that should keep paddles swinging well beyond the ceremonial first games.