JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville's largest indoor pickleball facility will be holding its grand opening this Saturday.
Originally purchased by Chance Gerisch to be a food truck hub, Toon Town is now all in on pickleball. With seven total indoor pickleball courts in Jacksonville, Toon Town has six of them.
Located in the shadows of EverBank Stadium, Toon Town partner Richard Parkes says the 23,000 square foot complex offers amenities pickleball players would be hard pressed to find anywhere else, let alone on the First Coast.
"Toon Town is a crazy place," Parkes told First Coast News. "We have paintings all over the outside. Paintings inside. We're not a sterile pickleball environment. This is a fun, welcoming environment, different from anything you're going to see in the pickleball landscape."
A look inside Toon Town's 23,000 square feet pickleball facility
What has drawn players to the facility during its soft opening period include outdoor playing surfaces, giant ceiling fans, 85-inch televisions at every court, cameras to capture and record your gameplay, a beer and wine bar, and the obvious: shelter from rain, wind and sun.
Parkes said the bar will soon be self service, featuring draft beer dispensers with facial recognition and self pay.
The website displays five different membership styles that will get you into Toon Town. The least expensive yearly membership is $175, which allows you to join open play any day and any time, availability permitting, for a $12 entry fee. There is a $100 yearly membership fee, but you must have a 5.0 or higher pickleball rating. You can enter without a membership for a $25 fee.
You can find more details on the membership pricing on their website. Also available on their website is information on renting Toon Town for event and office space.
There are free courts sprinkled around Jacksonville, but with the sport's rapid growth, fun, social play style, and inexpensive barrier of entry, finding a court can be difficult.
Parkes said the city will always have a hard time keeping up with the demand for courts.
"Pickleball has been around since 1965, but in the last three years, it has grown exponentially," he said.
"The City's not going to be able to keep up with the court demand for people that need courts. It's so far behind that they're going to have a hard time catching up to that demand."
Toon Town's grand opening will take place Saturday, June 8 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The complex is located just east of EverBank Stadium, on the corner of East Church Street and Talleyrand Avenue. There will be free open play, giveaways from local businesses like the Jumbo Shrimp, Sweet Pete's, Intuition, Kava & Co and more.
Toon Town will hold its first tournament July 27 and 28. You can find details on their website.