Courts to be located by the new JV baseball field

By Robert Williams

Editor

Two young women have big plans to benefit the Frazee community, local businesses and the school. Recent Frazee-Vergas graduates Hailee Olson and former Miss Frazee Madison Olson (no relation) each had their own dream to bring pickleball courts to Frazee and have kicked off fundraising efforts by attaining their first donation last week in hopes of raising the first $25,000 to get the project underway.

Initially, both women had their own ideas that eventually became the same plan.

“Both in our separate ways,” said Hailee. “Last year when I was still in high school we were coming up with things that we wanted to do to raise money for our school with the student council and all of our clubs. We just sat down in the summer thinking about what we could do and we were playing pickleball while we were talking about it. We don’t have pickleball courts. That would be such a fun thing to do. We came up with that and went down a long list and eventually got to Karen.”

In the past five years, there is nobody who has made a bigger impact on Frazee than Creating Community Consulting’s (CCC) co-owner Karen Pifher.

“The girls came to Karen and Karen told them their dreams can be a reality,” CCC Consultant Rachael Johnson said.

Madison’s dream was part of her pageant platform and she actually introduced the idea to the Frazee Area Community Club (FACC) in March at the club’s annual meeting.

“I was Miss Frazee at the time and my platform was called ‘Disconnect to Connect—creating community involvement,’’’ she said. “I just wanted to find ways to get the community involved without technology. We need pickleball courts because every other town has them.”

Frazee is landlocked between towns with growing pickleball groups like Detroit Lakes, Vergas, Perham and Menahga.

As frequent players of the sport, both Hailee and Madison have seen how pickleball courts attract players and how it translates into helping those communities. 

“We’re putting our money into those communities and their towns and businesses,” said Madison. “We need it in Frazee.”

Pifher was proud to see young people putting themselves out there to benefit the community.

“It’s been really fun watching these kids step up and say they want to get involved and work with them on skill-building like how to raise funds in a community to invest in the things you love and believe in,” Pifher said.

Madison and Hailee have a unique take on their project in that their focus is less about the actual funds and more on the future community impact.

“I think this is a little different because it is youth-led,” said Madison. “I think that is a selling point for us. For people who do have the money it’s cool to see youth that are interested in building their community.”

While both will be busy with college during the upcoming semester, bringing pickleball to Frazee is something they want to share with both fellow lovers of the sport and their own families.

“We’re younger but I plan to come back as much as I can to watch my younger siblings grow up and I want them to have the experiences I had, but closer to home,” said Hailee. “I bring my brothers and we go to Vergas; we go to Perham. We’ve been to all the courts around us and it’s just so fun. It would be even better, especially with me living in town at the moment and it would be so much easier to walk down to the fields and have a good night with the family. I think that everyone else growing up now should be able to experience that.”

The new pickleball courts in Frazee are geared to benefit significantly from both the steady stream of visitors to nearby Wannigan Regional Park and the presence of the local school population. 

“I think it would be cool to see some donations from local businesses too,” said Madison. “When I go to play in Vergas I’m going to Otter Coffee and buying an ice cream cone and going to Billy’s and getting fries. We are bringing business to town with these courts.”

The future home of the courts is next to the brand new junior varsity baseball field off of County Highway 29 and North River Road.

Wannigan Park already attracts thousands of outdoor enthusiasts, campers and tourists who are likely to seek additional recreational activities during their visit, boosting use of the courts and bringing more economic activity to surrounding businesses. Likewise, students, staff, and families connected to the school will have convenient access to the courts for physical education, after-school programs and community events. This combined influx of park visitors and school users, along with the exploding popularity of the sport, ensures the courts will see consistent activity, fostering community engagement promoting healthy lifestyles, and maximizing the courts’ value as a positive community asset.

FACC is the fiscal host of the fundraiser and the community club has partnered with the school to help bring this dream into reality. Madison made her own impact with FACC becoming the first youth board member in the community club’s history earlier this year. Her early work was focused on selecting the location for the courts and gathering early estimates. She spoke about starting the project with Hailee and then Miss Moorhead Teen 2025 grad Annalynn Wallin at the FACC annual meeting, along with hopes for another potential amenity for Frazee in a splash pad for kids.

Bringing FACC, CCC and the school district together was a way to benefit all parties and share costs. 

In May, Superintendent Terry Karger discussed melding together the junior varsity baseball parking lot and the pickleball courts to save costs. The JV lot was already proposed under a five to eight-year abatement bond of approximately $365,000 to create the courts and the parking lot. Cost analysis on the parking lot was $250,000.

Madison and Hailee have taken on raising $282,000 for the project as a whole and are beginning with a campaign to raise the first $25,000.

“That’s just to cover the dirt work and really it’s a goal to show our bidders that we are capable of raising funds and we can do it in a quick manner,” Madison said.

The opening $25,000 campaign will also serve the eventual bottom line. Raising that amount will lead to saving $50,000 due to the school district accepting an alternative bid through ICS Consulting, Inc. 

ICS has helped the district create a master plan for the future of the district’s facilities

Work has recently begun at the site with prep work for the future parking lot.

“The school said you can start fundraising, but we’ll just start digging for you; they trust that we’ll be able to get this $25,000,” said Hailee. “We’ve posted a little bit on Facebook and there have been people coming up to me asking how they can donate so that’s been really exciting.”

The duo developed a capital campaign to raise $282,000 over the next three years— an ambitious goal.

“I don’t think I realized how capable we are,” said Madison. “Obviously, with the help of Rachael and all of them at the CCC and with the FACC too, and Karen, I didn’t realize how capable we were and now it’s happening. We met with our first donor today and he had hope in us so that makes me optimistic.”

According to Johnson, CCC is providing the consulting services and helping with marketing. 

“We’re leading the youth campaign and facilitating and working with FACC to help them manage the fiscal responsibilities,” she said.

The FACC are aiding in the collaborative effort. The school district has provided the land needed for the courts, funding the parking area, and is also committed to ongoing upkeep of the courts. The campaign involves installation of four courts with the possibility of eight courts if the entire fundraising amount is reached.

Another project that is tangential to pickleball, the school and Wannigan Park is the combination of the City of Frazee, the school district and the Frazee Community Development Corporation in securing future state bonding funds to complete the paving of North River Road. 

To make a pledge or donation there is a donation form available on this page or mail mail your earmarked “Pickleball” donation to: Frazee Area Community Club; PO Box 276; Frazee, MN 56544.

Donations are tax deductible.