Thursday, September 6, 2018

Pickleball Pride in Hiawassee, GA


The 68th year of the "Hiawassee Parade" kicked off on July 21, 2018 with the theme of "Hometown Pride."  Over 70 players from the Georgia Mountain Pickleball Club participated and the awesome float can be viewed on YouTube here.

On the float, you will see the "pickle" and "ball" characters waving at the crowd and promoting the sport as we move along the route towards the fairgrounds.We had many that volunteered for this float project and worked numerous hours to get it completed on time.

Beth McCoy had a vision and worked tirelessly on the entire project for weeks, including making her own "Ball" costume! She was the driving force behind the project.

Many others volunteered numerous hours----Dean McCoy, Blake Harper, Virginia Steiner (dance coordinator), Tammy Lentini, Mark Petty and Eddie Palmer as the "pickle." As always, our Ambassador, John Hall who devotes an enormous amount of time for all things pickleball in Towns County participated in every aspect, including walking the 2 miles with the float to the parade end.

The small demo net that was pulled behind the float for demonstrating the sport was a classic, thanks to Blake Harper.

We also had 70 players that donated their time to walk with the float and interact with the parade goers the entire 2 miles on a hot July day.

Unfortunately, we didn't place in the contest for best float, but no one had more energy or volunteers then the pickleball float!  

Since the parade, we have had new players flocking to the courts on Saturday mornings for the novice classes. That is what you call "pickleball success!"

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