Someday historians will look back at this epoch, the early-to-late 2020s, and label it the Pickleball Era. The Paddle Period. The Whiffleballtocene. The game developed on Bainbridge Island in 1965 has grown so rapidly in recent years that calling it mainstream almost undersells its popularity. Now downtown Seattle is getting in on the action.

New courts have long been a sticking point in the pickleball world. A turf war between players and tennis fans has erupted, as have arguments over the noise of pickleball play in city parks. This weekend, mayor Bruce Harrell will promote new real estate for pickleball (not tennis) courts as part of his Downtown Activation Plan. The Pickleball for All tournament on Saturday and Sunday will stretch down Fifth Avenue near Denny, the sounds of bouncing whiffle balls echoing off the underside of the monorail tracks. 

The tournament comes coincides with reporting from local publications that a site in Interbay originally eyed for affordable housing is now being developed for a large pickleball facility. Its use as a temporary parking area, or safe lot, for RVs and tiny houses, should be unaffected for the next two years, but after that it'll be a place for recreation, not habitation.

Pickleball for All, coordinated by the Seattle Parks Foundation, includes 10 popup courts, with volunteer coaches from Seattle Metro Pickleball Association teaching the basics. Play ranges from casual drop-in rallying to a competitive tournament, and courts are ADA accessible. Equipment is provided.

Mayor Harrell will pick up a paddle to show off his own skills, but he's not the only fan. KEXP DJ John Richards will alternate between acting as MC and playing one of his own favorite sports. Highly decorated and top-ranked professional player Irina Tereschenko will speak. Clinics include one on how to play with an unfamiliar partner and a talk titled "Pickleball Saved My Life!" by Dmitry Ivanenko, founder of Ellensburg gear company Astria Pickleball. Food trucks will round out the festival.

While the event will utilize temporary playing spaces set up on Fifth Avenue, the festivities also include the unveiling of two new permanent courts in the area, on the plaza at Taylor and Fifth avenues. Open to the public after this weekend, those courts are a part of a larger push for more pickleball facilities across the city. Seattle Parks Foundation hopes to support more courts in Georgetown and at Eckstein Middle School in Wedgwood.

It seems like no matter how many courts do exist, there's never enough. Lines form at Green Lake Park every weekend, and reservations to use Miller Park's spaces fill up in advance. Across the Northwest, pickleball continues to expand into new areas; The People's Courts in Portland debuted this summer in an area formally used as a BMX park, boasting indoor and outdoor play spaces (along with areas for bocce ball and corn hole). At the Lodge at St. Edward Park, a hotel built on the site of an old seminary, the gymnasium was converted into a pickleball facility. Then, of course, there's the Interbay site that had been slated for housing. 

USA Pickleball calculates that there are more than 44,000 courts across the country and that nearly five million people play the game. Not bad for a sport reportedly named after Bainbridge dog Pickles back in the 1960s. In the future, will all sports be pickleball? In the Golden Age of Pickleball, anything is possible.