Tucked behind the basketball courts at Forest Park, across from the picnic shelters, a piece of Everett's parks system is in the middle of a quiet transformation. By early summer, the city expects to open its first multi-court outdoor facility built specifically for pickleball - a project that has been in motion since late 2025 and is now in its final phase of construction.

The project replaces a cluster of underused horseshoe pits, storage outbuildings, and aging multi-use basketball courts with a pickleball complex. When finished, Forest Park will have a new paved court with four regulation pickleball courts. The site work also includes new sport fencing, a practice wall, site lighting, drinking fountains, benches, and replacement cornhole and horseshoe pits to make up for what was removed. The two existing multi-use basketball courts are also being renovated and striped to accommodate shared pickleball courts.

The City Council awarded the construction contract to Diverse Earthworks, Inc. in the fall of 2025, and construction quickly began in November. At its April 29 meeting, the council took up an amendment to its professional services agreement with MacLeod Reckord, the landscape architecture firm providing construction support on the project - a routine step as the build moves into its final phase.

Until recently, Everett only had one fully dedicated pickleball court at Garfield Park. Now it'll have ten pickleball courts, depending on how you count the shared multi-use spaces. The city's project page lists an estimated completion of June 2026.