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# Pickleball Courts Open at Merriner Park
- URL: https://www.thestreatorstandard.com/f/pickleball-courts-open-at-merriner-park/
- Published: 2026-10-26T18:20:23.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-26T18:20:23.000Z
- Author: The Streator Standard
- Tags: News, Community

STREATOR — Two public pickleball courts at Merriner Park are open for play, the city announced Monday.

In August, the City Council awarded the construction contract to Ruiz Construction Co. of Ottawa, which bid $99,510\. The estimated cost of the approved design rose to about $105,000 after the city enlarged the courts and dropped perimeter fencing from the plan. Adding fencing to the larger courts would have pushed the cost above $131,000.

The project is funded through the city's Route 18 East Tax Increment Financing District.

In 2024, the Streator Parks and Open Spaces Board proposed four courts at Anderson Fields Golf Course. The council delayed a decision pending a more accurate cost estimate.

In February 2025, the parks board ranked three other sites in this order: the former Lipton Tea lot at Wasson and Main streets, Oakland Park and Merriner Park. The council chose Merriner Park, citing its parking, access to restrooms at the Incubator and room for expansion. Each court was estimated at the time to cost about $35,000.

The Streator Family YMCA has two outdoor pickleball courts, which opened in spring 2023 and were funded through donations honoring Ralph Sterrett, the YMCA's executive director from 1993 to 2011\. A membership is required to use them.

Pickleball is played with paddles and a perforated plastic ball on a court smaller than a tennis court. The game was invented in Washington state in 1965.

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, up from 4.2 million in 2020.