Multiple improvements are in the works or on the drawing boards for Lakeland’s parks.

The Lakeland Parks and Recreation/Natural Resources Board met on Tuesday, July 9, and discussed the upcoming construction of a new pavilion at International Harvester Managerial Park as well as the possibility of new playgrounds and pickleball courts in future projects.

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The city will build a new 1,250-square-foot pavilion at IH Park to replace the pavilion that was damaged during a wind storm in April 2020. 

“We definitely want to get that rebuilt. It’s been ... years since we’ve had one at IH,” said Andrew Fisher, Lakeland’s parks and recreation director. 

The city’s movie and concert events currently take place at the LAMP amphitheater, which is also located at IH Park. 

The pavilion at City Hall Park, which suffered storm damage last June, also needs to be replaced.

The city also wants to make extensive improvements to Windward Slopes Park, and it plans to pursue a BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee grant that it has applied for in the past. 

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The grant money would be used for new playgrounds, an outdoor fitness area, a larger pavilion, lights for the park’s trail and additional tennis and pickleball courts.

“It’s getting loud out there about pickleball,” board member Jeff Roman said of the growing demand from citizens for pickleball courts.

Lakeland commissioner and vice mayor Michele Dial, who serves as the liaison to the parks and rec board, said she had also received a request to turn Club Windward’s old tennis/basketball courts on Canada Road into pickleball courts.

But Dial stressed that because Club Windward is privately owned, there is nothing the city can do. 

“That would be a happening place if we had pickleball courts there,” Fisher said.

Still, Dial plans to meet with the owners to float the idea for pickleball courts there.

“They need to realize what they’ve got on their hands,” she said. “They just need to resurface that area.”

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Fisher also told the board that light poles are finally up at the Lakeland Athletic Complex.

“I know that it’s been a long time coming, and it’s been a long project to manage,” he said.

Roman wondered how long it might be before the lights would be on, and Fisher said that would depend on Memphis Light, Gas and Water.

“If, for some reason, they take into November/December, and this is when we really need the lights for fall sports, the electrical contractor did tell me we could hook it up to a generator,” Fisher said.

The meeting ended with an update on “Christmas in Lakeland,” an event being brought back this year on Nov. 30.

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“Not really a new event, but we’re trying to breathe new life back into it,” Fisher said.

A parade/neighborhood tour would end with Santa at IH Park and a tree-lighting ceremony after dark. Multiple bands would perform Christmas music, followed by a showing of 2018’s “The Grinch.”