The Seattle Parks Department has enhanced the Mount Baker Park court lights in December 2022 and the difference is striking. With this latest upgrade, there is now decent lighting for evening play south of the ship canal at 20 lined pickleball courts:
- 8 at the Rainier Beach courts
- 4 at the Alki courts
- 4 at the Miller Playfield courts
- 4 at the Mount Baker Park courts
(Over half of these courts do not have pickleball nets, but that is a story for another day.)
So far, there are no Seattle pickleball courts with decent lights north of the ship canal. Some players elect to drive to Shoreline Park for evening play. Others, such as the Green Lake Pickleball Club players have been pressing Seattle Parks to give them access to two of the ten lighted tennis courts at Lower Woodland during winter evenings when they go largely unused by tennis players.
But there is some good news for pickleball players who live north of the ship canal: This week, Andy Sheffer, Seattle Parks’ Director of Planning and Development, committed to upgrading the Bitter Lake court lights by the end of February 2023.
We predict a lot of evening play will occur on the eight Bitter Lake pickleball courts as soon as the new lights are installed.