SCRANTON — A four-court pickleball complex planned for McDade Park will complement rebuilt tennis courts there as Lackawanna County officials work to bolster the outdoor asset in Scranton and Taylor.
Commissioners Thom Welby, Bill Gaughan and Chris Chermak recently awarded a $200,444 contract for the pickleball project to Wince Construction Inc. of Ransom Twp. The firm submitted the lowest responsible bid the county received for that work and an alternate bid for the demolition and replacement of McDade’s existing tennis courts, a $256,000 project commissioners also approved.
County officials will use state Local Share Account grant funding for the pickleball complex, and a combination of about $150,000 in reimbursed group health insurance surplus funds and existing capital project funding to replace the tennis courts, Chief Financial Officer David Bulzoni said. The county gets reimbursed when its actual health insurance claims for a given year total less than what the county pays into a claim fund pursuant to its participation in the Pennsylvania Counties Health Insurance Purchasing Cooperative.
The McDade Park tennis courts in Scranton Friday, May 8, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The pending pickleball project will construct four pickleball courts adjacent to the tennis courts, “adding a highly attractive public amenity” to McDade Park, county Economic Development Director Tom Carlucci said.
“Importantly, the project is fully funded through the LSA statewide grant program, meaning there’s no cost to the county’s general fund,” he said. “This is a strong investment in recreation, community engagement and better … quality of life of our residents, so this is exactly the type of projects that leverage outside funding to enhance our parks without burdening taxpayers.”
Officials expect the pickleball project to begin in about two weeks and wrap up by July, Carlucci said. Work on the tennis courts entails demolition and replacement of the existing asphalt surface and should follow a similar timeline, he said.
Before voting with his colleagues to approve the Wince Construction contract, Gaughan said he’s been “amazed at the amount of people who play pickleball.”
“When you drive around the county, any of the existing pickleball courts are full every time I’ve driven by them, so I think this is going to be a great addition to McDade Park,” he said. “And especially the part where we’re redoing the tennis courts, because they are used just as much as the pickleball courts would be used and they’re in really rough shape, so this is great.”
Both amenities will ultimately complement a 12-hole, heritage-themed disc golf course at McDade. Officials announced plans for that amenity in April 2025, when Gaughan and Chermak voted to enter into a cooperative agreement with and accept $4,310 in grant funding awarded by the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority for the disc golf project.
Other support for the disc golf initiative came in the form of a $5,000 Pocono Forests and Waters Conservation Landscape Mini Grant and Archbald-based LibertyStone Hardscaping Systems’ donation of pavers to construct the course’s tee boxes.
Like pickleball, disc golf is another somewhat niche sport that’s exploded in popularity.
County Parks and Recreation Director Paul Bechtel, who told the newspaper in January that the course would likely be ready for play this spring, said this week that park staff are still working on the tee boxes.