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Date: 10/17/2023
SOUTH HADLEY – The Friends of Buttery Brook Park are welcoming the public for a weekend celebration in town with the Buttery Brook Park Fall Fest, headlined by the town’s second annual pickleball tournament.
From Friday Oct. 20 to Sunday Oct. 22, Buttery Brook Park will be the hub of activity in town with a few different attractions for residents to check out. Member of the Friends of Buttery Brook Park Kim Prough told Reminder Publishing they were looking to host the second edition of the pickleball tournament but also one up last year’s event with a weekend of activities planned inside the park.
“We also wanted to have a fun day of events at Buttery Brook Park,” Prough said. “We wanted to try and offer and have things that will bring the public to the park. It’s an opportunity to draw more people to the park.”
Saturday will be the busiest day of the weekend festival as it will feature entertainment, food and drink throughout the day, and it will also be the second day of the pickleball tournament. Deejay KStylez will be playing music from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. before a free concert by Band Acousticca from 3 to 6 p.m.
A beer tent will be open from noon to 7 p.m. and food trucks from Dev’s Mac ‘N Eats and Who Cooks for You will be serving from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
While pickleball will be ongoing all weekend, registration in all the adult divisions for the tournament is already full but the public is still encouraged to come out and support the tournament while also spending some time throughout the park. Prough said if anyone in high school or college is interested in playing, there is still room available in the division and they can sign up via the Team Reach app (code 01075).
The first day features the start of the park’s second pickleball tournament with the senior division starting at 2:30 p.m., followed by the Men’s A Division at 5:30 p.m. Free chili, cornbread and apple cider will be served from 6-8 p.m. during the tournament.
Day two of the tournament gets started at 9 a.m. with the Women’s B Division and at noon will be the Women’s A Division. The Mixed A and B Divisions begin their games at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.
Starting during this event at 11 a.m. and ongoing through the Saturday afternoon inside is a cornhole tournament thanks to the help of 413 Cornhole. Sign-up for this tournament can be found via the Scoreholio app and walk-ups are welcomed.
Sunday the Men’s B Division will start at 9 a.m. and the High School/College Division will begin at noon. Free coffee and pastries will be served at the start of the day.
“People are welcomed to show up and watch. There’s something going on for anybody who might want to pop in and see what’s happening,” Prough said. “Saturday is going to be the big day. We’re hoping we get the community who want to come and listen to the concert, grab a bite to eat, a beer at the beer tent, you know just come in and enjoy a different aspect of the park for that day.”
The rain date for the Saturday portion of the event is the following day.
Prough added the activity within the park this year alone has been great and noted the addition of the South Hadley Farmers Market to the location as well as the other yearly events held inside the park have all had great turnout.
Prough said she is happy to see the pickleball tournament double in divisions of teams from last year and the wide variety of participation from all ages in the community continues to show the high interest South Hadley has in the sport.
“It’s really representative of our community and pickleball community in South Hadley,” Prough said. “From the perspective of the Friends of Buttery Brook Park is we’re looking to create more opportunities for people to come into the park and having this event is just another way for us to do that.”