In just a few weeks, Pickleball Maine will be hosting their 4th Annual New Year’s Day Extravaganza filled with foods and drinks, prizes, good community, and of course pickleball. During the event, which has sold out each previous year, local players can ring in the new year with several hours of fun and competitive pickleball with their fellow pickleball enthusiasts and get to know new players from the area.
Wayne St. Peter, the owner of Pickleball Maine and head pro at Foreside Fitness and Tennis where Pickleball Maine is located, says he and his team decided to start hosting this event after being in the office on New Year’s Day when the club was closed and getting dozens of calls about their hours as people were looking for a place to play pickleball on New Year’s Day. They quickly realized there was a window of opportunity to host a New Year’s Day themed event and kick off the new year by offering players a chance to spend time with other local pickleball enthusiasts and of course, enjoy some competitive pickleball. This event can host between 100-110 participants and will feature play on 20 courts. Fourteen of these courts are dedicated pickleball courts while the additional six are tennis courts that will be marked out for pickleball specifically for the event.
When registering, participants fill out a form indicating what level of play they are so when they show up for the event, they will be given a range of courts (ex. courts #1-#6) they will be playing on for the day. This system allows for competitive games to occur throughout the day and leaves time for participants to enjoy food, beverages, and additional socialization with old and new friends. Further, at the conclusion of the event, Pickleball Maine will be giving out pickleball related prizes from brands like Selkirk, Franklin, and more.
During the event, participants will have the opportunity to shop around Pickleball Maine’s pro shop which will be open for demos and testing equipment. St. Peter notes that each year of this event he has seen an increase in paddle sales directly after the event, which comes from their promotion of gear during the extravaganza and players’ renewed excitement for the game. In addition to the increase in paddle sales, Pickleball Maine sees a surge in court rentals of groups renting courts for a specific number of weeks during the year. These contract groups provide great recurring business as well as increase traffic through the club.
As a club highly focused on pickleball education and introducing new people to the sport, Pickleball Maine finds that many of their clients from lessons throughout the summer all gather together at this event each year to renew their connection and socialize around pickleball. St. Peter loves that the New Year’s Day Extravaganza “gives a place for all those people to go back and play” and reconnect at the beginning of the year. Pickleball Maine uses the New Year’s Day Extravaganza to reach players who learned the game from them and bring them into the larger pickleball community in the area. They regularly have participants from up to 2.5 hours away who drive in for the event, which brings the brand of Pickleball Maine far beyond just Falmouth, Maine.
Part of Pickleball Maine’s overall goal with the event is to foster community within the club. St. Peter highlights that the event is often a place where “people make lifelong friends and make new friends.” These relationships contribute to an even more enjoyable pickleball experience as it is easier to play the game when you have friends on the court with you.
To promote the New Year’s Day Extravaganza, Pickleball Maine does 99.9% of their marketing via direct email to their list of almost 2,000 people who have engaged with the club prior. Further, St. Peter is an active participant in the community and finds ways to promote the Pickleball Maine brand through local events. For example, he will be promoting the club at an upcoming minor league hockey game which he hopes will attract even more participants for the New Year’s Day Extravaganza.
Over the years of hosting this event, St. Peter has learned how to make the event even more convenient and accessible for customers, which is a crucial element of hosting at a pickleball facility. This year, they will be working with a better system to tie curtains back on the court and arrange the courts in a way to have a more fluid flow to the crowd. This includes having new walkways between courts to eliminate the need for players to cross courts to get from place to place within the facility.
St. Peter’s biggest piece of advice for other pickleball club owners looking to host a similar event is to practice “good record keeping and maintain a waiting list in the event someone pulls out at the last minute.” This makes it easier to backfill and mitigates having open spots during the event. Moreover, organizers should “be prepared to do a lot of advance work getting things set up.” This includes setting up the registration system, making a plan for the courts, and ensuring there is a good flow to the event.
Through the Annual New Year’s Day Extravaganza, Pickleball Maine hopes to instill new excitement in pickleball players throughout the area and attract regular clients to the club. They are excited to be hosting for the fourth year in a row and hope to continue the event well into the future.
