A pickleball club that started with about 30 players in 2012 is behind a 42-court complex taking shape in Stony Plain, west of Edmonton.
The project is being billed as Canada's largest pickleball facility, combining 28 outdoor courts with 14 indoor courts in Stony Plain's North Park area.
The Parkland Pickleheads are building 24 of the outdoor courts. Stony Plain Land Inc. has built another four and is developing the indoor facility.
The outdoor courts are about 90 per cent complete, according to the club. Construction on the indoor portion is further behind.
The complex is expected to open in April 2027.
It started with about 30 players in Spruce Grove
Parkland Pickleheads traces its roots to the summer of 2012, when a small group began playing in Spruce Grove.
Many had discovered pickleball while spending winters in the United States and brought the sport home with them.
The club now draws players from across Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland County, and has grown to more than 500 active participants.
Its current home is Henry Singer Park in Spruce Grove, where the city refurbished tennis courts in 2017 to create 12 dedicated pickleball courts.
Going from 12 outdoor courts to 42 indoor and outdoor is a major jump.
The project has been years in the making
The Pickleheads have been working toward a larger facility since 2019, as membership and demand for court time grew.
Finding enough land wasn't simple. The club considered several possibilities before the Stony Plain project came together through a partnership involving the Pickleheads, RJ Enterprises and Stony Plain Land Inc.
Construction broke ground in July 2025. The first asphalt was laid that fall, and work continued through 2026 on fencing and the outdoor courts.
Now the outdoor portion is nearing completion while attention turns to the indoor component.
Four partners are behind it
For a project driven largely by a volunteer sports club, the funding arrangement is unusual.
Stony Plain Land Inc. built four of the outdoor courts and is constructing the indoor facility.
The Government of Alberta has provided financial support.
The Town of Stony Plain contributed $400,000.
The City of Spruce Grove has also provided support, despite the facility being built in a neighbouring town.
That makes more sense given the club's history. The Pickleheads started in Spruce Grove and still operate their courts there, and membership extends throughout the Tri-Region rather than one municipality.
The complex may be in Stony Plain, but the people expected to use it will come from well beyond the town's boundaries.
They want to bring major tournaments to the region
The Pickleheads aren't building 42 courts solely for local drop-in games.
Club president Garand Jones has said the organization wants to host significantly larger events.
"It's exciting. We're looking forward to holding some major events there," Jones told 88.1 The One.
He said the goal is to attract players "from all over the country, and even some of the northern U.S."
The scale makes that possible. Instead of spreading a large tournament across venues, organizers would have dozens of courts at one site, including indoor courts that don't depend on Alberta weather.
Major events could also mean visitors staying in the area, eating at local restaurants and spending money across Stony Plain and Spruce Grove.
The 14 indoor courts may be the biggest change
The headline number is 42, but the indoor portion is what matters most in Alberta.
The Pickleheads' current facility at Henry Singer Park is entirely outdoors.
The new building gives the club dedicated space that operates through winter rather than being tied to a six-month season. It also provides far more flexibility for leagues, lessons, tournaments and recreational play.
There's another Stony Plain pickleball number that doesn't match
An unresolved detail turned up while we were covering a separate development in the same town.
Commercial material for the Stony Plain Power Centre, where Costco has appeared as a planned anchor tenant, identifies a "56 Court Pickleball Facility."
That's 14 more courts than the Pickleheads project.
The locations may be closer than they first appear. The Pickleheads describe their project as being in the North Park area, while the commercial plans place the 56-court facility around North Park Drive.
So it isn't safe to assume these are two entirely separate developments.
The 56-court figure could represent an earlier concept, a future expansion, a different counting method, or something else. Publicly available information doesn't explain it, and neither the developer nor the club has addressed the discrepancy.
What's currently confirmed for the Parkland Pickleheads project is 42 courts.
Our coverage of the planned Stony Plain Costco is here.
Is it really Canada's largest
The project is being promoted and reported as Canada's largest pickleball facility. At 42 combined courts, it's certainly enormous.
But the claim deserves a qualifier.
There's no comprehensive national registry we could use to compare every pickleball complex operating or under construction across Canada, and court totals change as projects expand.
That's why "billed as Canada's largest" is the more precise description until the claim can be independently established.
What doesn't require a superlative is the scale of what's actually being built: 28 outdoor courts and 14 indoor courts at one Stony Plain site.
From 12 courts to 42
The Pickleheads spent seven years looking for room to grow after Spruce Grove gave them a permanent home in 2017.
If construction stays on schedule, players should be on those courts in April 2027, and the club hopes some of them will be travelling from considerably farther away than Edmonton.
Sources
Parkland Pickleheads Pickleball Club
Construction progress and comments from Garand Jones as reported by 88.1 The One. Club history as reported by Pickleball Today. Stony Plain Power Centre material from Hughes Commercial Realty Group.
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