Aurora pickleball courts officially opened

AURORA—A little less than two years ago, a small group of volunteers gathered to consider building a pickleball court in the Aurora community.

At the time, the rallying cry was, “Why not in Aurora?’’

Fast forward to 2024 and the four courts were officially christened with a ribbon cutting and a few games of pickleball.

“Let the games begin,’’ Aurora Mayor Doug Gregor wrote in a proclamation making May 17 Pickleball for All Day in Aurora.

John Miklausich, who was on the core organizing committee with his wife Joyce, said many local businesses, government entities and individuals donated to the Jim Gillach Memorial Fund to make the $130,000 project happen.

The courts now sit on a city-owned site just east of S. Main St.

“There were a lot of individuals in the community that donated, a lot of people outside the community that donated,’’ Miklausich said. “The businesses really stepped up and volunteered also’’ and then donated on top of that.

The donations include: $10,000 from Essentia Health, $30,000 from Iron Range Resources, $5,000 each from the American Legion, Lakehead Contractors and St. Louis County, along with $60,000 in private donations.

Miklausich said donations came from many Mesabi East or Aurora-Hoyt Lakes graduates in the local community and from across the country.

The courts were finished late last year and about 120 people got to use them before snow set in. About 250 people have already used the courts this year.

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The committee had three specific goals for the project:

1. Increase foot traffic to downtown restaurants and establishments.

2. Clean up a blighted corner.

3. Getting people of all ages to connect again after coming out of COVID.

“So far, I believe we’ve cleaned up a blighted corner. That’s a check,’’ Miklausich stated. There are also individuals of all ages already playing and the local businesses are starting to experience a benefit.

The core organizing committee also included Paul and Jean Stark and Al and Erika Hodnik.

The committee also hopes to take advantage of what’s going on at Giants Ridge so some of those guests can come to Aurora and play.

The courts are open from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. with lights for later play when fall arrives. Open play is Monday-Friday from 9-11 a.m.

The Jim Gillach Memorial Fund is the name of the committee’s 501©(3) and is named for the longtime Aurora resident.

Miklausich said Gillach grew up in Aurora before moving away to become a school teacher.

“Every summer he would come back home and he would play with the Pine Grove baseball team and he’d play tennis. So when he passed away, they opened up a 501©(3) in his name so we’ve just kind of been using that.”

It was a good feeling to see the project get finished after starting from scratch. “To get it all done was just phenomenal. All the pieces fell together for us to make it happen.’’