Powell Courts re-open after renovations
By Ken Lay
Some outdoor courts recently received a much-needed facelift, and late last week the Knox County Parks and Recreation re-opened those courts, which are located behind Powell Middle School.
Powell Courts, located at 3204 Shropshire Boulevard, were re-opened Thursday morning and area residents took to the courts to shoot basketball and compete in some friendly pickleball matches after county leaders officially celebrated the grand re-opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and County Commissioners Larsen Jay and Rhonda Lee were in attendance and cut the ribbon, along with Knox County Parks and Recreation Director Joe Mack and other employees from the parks and recreation department.
“I have a lot of people to thank, including our mayor and the people of the community who told us what they wanted to see,” Mack said. “Sometimes it’s easy for us to sit in our offices and decide what people want and then we find out that it wasn’t what they wanted.
“I want to see the people of Powell come out and play, play tennis, pickleball and outdoor basketball. I want to see people form and play in leagues.”
Jacobs, an advocate for recreation and physical fitness, said that the renovated facility was more than outdoor courts.
“I want to see people have fun, and play is important,” Jacobs said. “But this is about more than just play. Play is very important but places like this are about gathering and coming together.”
The courts had been temporarily closed for renovations and Lee, who represents District 7, which includes Powell and Halls, said that she received a late-night message announcing that the courts were going to re-open and couldn’t contain her excitement.
“Everybody kept asking me when this was going to re-open, and I got a late-night message,” Lee said. “I was calling and texting people at 11:30 at night and letting them know. I told them that I was giving them the news hot off the presses.”
“We’re excited because we were able to pay for this entirely out of our operations budget,” Mack said. “We didn’t use any grant money.”
