Macon Magazine

Piedmont Brewery and Kitchen, JAG's Pizzeria and Pub, Your Pie, Macon Beer Company, The Brick, Fall Line Brewing Co., The Society Garden, Just Tap'd and more. "With the popularity of the tournaments we are hosting, you also see the local economy benefit greatly," Roberts said. "With the people that are coming in from out of town, hotel nights increase and people are eating out and going to local shopping." "We are lucky to have a mayor and county commission that sees the benefit and value of pickleball and recognizes that Macon has an opportunity to carve a niche out for itself in that space and the locality can reap the benefits of that economic impact." Roberts added. Early on in discussions circling around Macon-Bibb County partnering to revitalize the Macon Mall, there was a need to create uses for the anchor department stores. One of the items that kept coming up in conversation was athletics and recreation. At this time, pickleball was growing at a rapid pace in Macon, with the city hosting a tournament or two every month. "We were seeing the tourism potential of the ability to have more tournaments that can host people year-round. And the notion of using one of the anchor departments as an indoor pickleball facility was born," explained Macon-Bibb County's Director of Planning and Public Spaces, Alex Morrison. Conversations with Morrison, Mayor Lester Miller and Gary Wheat with Visit Macon galvanized around the notion that pickleball was growing in popularity. To appeal to players on the professional level, Macon could get in early on building an indoor facility, and with the amount of square feet available, there was an opportunity to build the largest indoor facility in the world. The current design plans feature 32 total courts, with 16 courts on both the upper and lower levels of the former Belk department store. The nets are considered high scale temporary nets, so that the layout of the facility can have maximum flexibility. There will also be a pickleball pro shop, locker room facilities and flooring that is identical to the courts that pickleballers play on in an outdoor setting. This facility will have the ability to host pro-level tournaments, drawing in hundreds of thousands of registrants each year. Morrison puts it this way: "Once you start putting it in people's minds that Macon has this facility that can host tournaments year-round, in air-conditioned space, people are going to come from miles around to play here." Currently, cancellations and delays for poor weather are common during tournaments. "People will understand that if you register for a tournament in Macon, even if it starts outdoors, you're going to get to play the full weekend because this indoor facility that is weatherproof and outfitted for pickleball," Morrison noted. "Then bigger tournaments come, more sales for other stores and restaurants come. When we are using the Eisenhower corridor in a new way, it will really start breeding economic opportunity for people in that district." The Macon Mall was once remembered as a central hub for people of all different socioeconomic backgrounds to get together, have fun and make memories. Pickleball advocates like Morrison aim to rejuvenate that area by connecting people back to that original purpose. "It's really been a pleasure to see how much Macon Pickleball has been a unifier of a lot of different groups. In the time I've been playing and watching, you've started to see more people of all different ages, abilities, racial backgrounds, economic backgrounds all sharing the courts. I think that pickleball is one of those few activities that no matter who you are, you can enjoy this sport. And we hope the pivotal mall project can be an invitation even further outside the state to show that Macon really is something special," Morrison said. He's not the only one who thinks pickleball is truly for all. Andrea Lee, supervisor of the Elaine H. Lucas Senior Center, decided to introduce her constituents to the game in June of 2021. Lee, with the help of Midkiff, began a beginners pickleball class for seniors twice a week for six weeks. At the end of the session, 40 seniors attended their pickleball "graduation," where the participants all got medals and played in a tournament. The session was so popular that they begged to bring it back, and this time there were nearly double the number of attendees. For Lee, it's not just about AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022 | maconmagazine.com 77

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