Community gathers for grand reopening of Bill Herman Tennis Courts

PALMER — Members of the community gathered with the Mat-Su Tennis Association for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the grand reopening of the Bill Herman Tennis Courts Friday, July 8.

“This is fantastic,” Mat-Su Tennis Association President Susan Brunner said.

The newly reconstructed tennis courts are now available for public use. Several members of the local tennis community christened the new courts after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“They’re awesome looking,” Jesse Hushower said.

According to Brunner, it took about 18 months of fundraising to prepare for this project, ending with about $185,000 total. She said they were able to break ground in May after gaining a large amount of public support including start-up donations from local Rotary International clubs worth $10,000 each and a $90,000 grant from the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation. She said they had a massive amount of public support, and having help from local tennis players like Hushower really aided their overall fundraising efforts.

“A lot of this came from volunteer work,” Brunner said.

Mat-Su Tennis Association Vice President Susan Skvorc said it was difficult to put into words how happy she was to see this project come to fruition in such a reasonable amount of time. She noted that the fencing will come shortly but the overall appearance looks great.

“This is amazing. This is just beautiful,” Skvorc said.

The City of Palmer oversees the Bill Herman Tennis Courts. The Mat-Su Tennis Association took it upon themselves to raise the necessary funds to give a much-needed restoration to the widely used and cherished public facility. Skvorc said these tennis courts are a great asset to the Palmer community and surrounding Mat-Su Valley. She said this completed project will help encourage more youth to get involved in the sport

“It’s a great thing to start a whole new generation of playing,” Skvorc said.

The Mat-Su Tennis Association offers a range of services including youth clinics and sporting local tennis tournaments. For more information, visit matsutennis.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com