THUNDER BAY — The closure of Thunder Bay's Moose Lodge is having repercussions beyond the membership of Lodge # 947 of the Loyal Order of the Moose.
Among the impacted user groups are pickleball players who have been using the hall on Fort Wiliam Road on a regular basis for about seven years.
As early as next week, they could be taking their paddles to the gymnasium in the former Port Arthur Collegiate Institute instead, thanks to the intervention of the Thunder Bay Pickleball Club.
President Jake Krawczuk explained Tuesday that the closure of the Moose Lodge has put a squeeze on other pickleball facilities used by club members.
Although the club doesn't directly run any pickleball out of the hall, he said, there's "a huge overlap between club members who play pickleball elsewhere, and people who play at the Moose. The majority of the people who play there are also club members."
He estimated that 80 per cent of the 150 to 200 people playing at the hall belong to the pickleball club.
According to Krawczuk, many of these individuals were using it three to five mornings a week, but since last month they've had to use facilities arranged through the club.
"So our sessions really get overloaded at that point, because we were not spaced out to accommodate that. Our response is that we have secured a new venue, hopefully starting next week."
He said arrangements have almost been completed to use the gym at the former high school where Lakehead University's law faculty is now based.
Although attendees at a meeting earlier this week reported they were told the Moose Lodge might reopen in the coming weeks, Krawczuk said that won't change the plan to use an alternate facility going forward.
"My opinion is that the reality is of it is, on behalf of our members, we cannot have an ongoing situation where their continued ability to play is beholden to an organization that in this case isn't even Canadian...who can just shut down the facility on literally zero days notice with no apparent reason given at the time...and no one even knows for almost an entire month whether that's even coming back."
He said he expects pickleball players will be happy to use the gym at the former PACI.
"It's a pretty great facility that we hadn't investigated in the past due to cost. But you know at this point we need to provide a workable venue for our members on a timely basis that is going to provide enough hours in the right part of the day for them to play as they want to."
