Quincy battling with three other cities for free indoor pickleball facility — and your daily vote can help

QUINCY — Quincy is one of four U.S. cities with a chance to win an indoor pickleball facility from The Picklr, which expects to have more than 100 locations across the country by the end of 2024.

The original field of 32 cities entered in the Picklr Your City contest was narrowed to four early Friday morning when voting stopped. The remaining four cities are Anchorage, Alaska; Quincy; Omaha, Neb.; and Lake Forest, Calif. Eliminated were Honolulu; Seattle; Lehi, Utah; and Davis, Calif.

Voting to determine the two finalists started Friday morning and will continue until 12:59 a.m. Central Time on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Voting to determine the winner will start at 1 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12 and conclude at 12:59 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 14.

The number of votes each city has received resets after the conclusion of each round of voting. Cam Banner, director of marketing for Utah-based The Picklr, says cities have typically needed 400 to 500 votes to make it through each round.

“Now I think they’re going to probably need 1,500 (votes), but this is just me guessing,” he said. 

The first Picklr franchise opened three years ago. It now has seven locations, but 120 franchises have been sold.

“It wasn’t intended to become a franchise business, but it was made clear to us pretty early on that people wanted this around the country,” Banner said. “2024 is when things are really going to start opening.”

The Dink, a twice-weekly pickleball newsletter, has teamed up with the Firework Foundation to give away a Picklr indoor facility. Pop star Katy Perry is the founder of the Firework Foundation.

“Katy Perry is a loud and proud pickleball fan,” Banner said. “She plays a lot.”

Quincy has a chance to be one of the latest locations.

Drew Koester, a local pickleball enthusiast, has been beating the drum to get people to vote for Quincy since Nov. 10. He helped qualify Quincy to be among the 32 cities eligible to win the contest.

People can submit one vote a day at https://thepicklr.com/picklryourcity/. Koester, 32, says it’s easier to vote on a laptop than it is on a mobile phone.

“This could be potentially a big deal,” Koester said. “I travel with some of my friends to St. Louis. Springfield and Chicago to play in tournaments with a few hundred people. Theoretically, it could bring in a lot of revenue if we host tournaments every so often, kind of like how Gus Macker would bring in people for a weekend or whatever.

“I was just at a tournament in Fenton, Mo., that I think had 475 players. Between hotels and dining, there can be a decent little chunk of change for a city, especially a small city like Quincy.”

Koester said he started playing during the COVID pandemic. 

“I had heard of it and didn’t really know what it was,” he said. “I thought it looked kind of dorky, and then I played once. I went home to order a paddle online. I would tell people, ‘Have you heard of pickleball?’ They would say, ‘Isn’t that a sport for old people?’ Now everyone’s playing.

“I go out two or three times a week during the nice weather, and the courts at Upper Moorman are usually busy. Sometimes you have to drive around to three or four parks to find a court. The number of people has grown significantly, especially younger kids. At first it was always the elderly, but now it’s high school kids who play.”

Koester said the only place to play indoors in Quincy is the Quincy Racquet Club. 

“It would be so nice to have dedicated pickleball facilities since the sport’s booming,” he said.

Banner said the Picklr facilities typically work well in big box scores that have gone out of business. The dimensions of an empty Bed, Bath and Beyond store — which Quincy has, by the way — are perfect, Banner said. 

“We’ve identified leases like that all over the country,” Banner said. “We send our real estate guy in and help a franchisee find a place that meets the dimension requirements and facility requirements, and then we’d set them up with a contractor and help them get it built out to Picklr standards.”

In this contest, it’s winner takes all. The second place city gets nothing.

Banner said he thought it would take about six months to put a Picklr facility in place once a contract is secured.

People also can win when they vote. The Picklr is giving away three lifetime supplies of pickleball gear, two lifetime supplies of pickleball apparel, 10 pickleball paddles, 10 cases of pickleballs and 25 lifetime memberships from the Picklr.