Jon and Frank Norberg’s Courts and Pints opens its doors with a soft opening Monday, June 2, showing off the 15 pickleball courts in the 60,000-sq.-ft. facility at Eighth Street and I-94. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

On Monday, June 2, pickleball proponents will get their first glimpse of Courts and Pints, Moorhead’s much-anticipated new facility for the rapidly growing sport.
Courts and Pints plans a soft opening that day from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., the same hours set for its seven-day-a-week operations. The first day will be limited to members who have signed up for the club’s free bronze memberships at its website, www.pickle.fun.
“The first phase of Courts and Pints will be ready to go – the 15 pickleball courts,” says Jon Norberg. With his brother Frank and partner Kelly Lancaster, the orthopedic surgeon has turned the former Family Fare supermarket near the Brookdale Mall into Fargo-Moorhead’s first full-service indoor pickleball destination. “We expect that the next phase — including the bag toss lanes, the bar and our full-service restaurant – will be ready to go around the middle of June.”
Workers were stringing nets and working on the bar and grill this week in the 60,000-sq.-ft. Facility, It’s located just north of I-94 at 2805 Eighth Street South.
Regulation-size blue courts, one-third of the size of a regulation tennis court, fill three-quarters of the grass-green floor in the transformed supermarket. Walls enclose the building’s margins outside the playing area.
They set off two large party rooms to the north, each resizable to accommodate from 25 to 75 guests. Norberg expects the spaces to host everything from parties and seminars to business meetings. While protected from the din of paddles and balls, the rooms offer full views of the players outside.
A full-service restaurant, closed off from the courts and the adjacent bar area, will occupy part of the west quarter of the building. The lunch and dinner spot features a brick pizza oven, but its menu also includes what the developers call “elevated pub fare,” including burgers, salads, chicken, bruschetta and cheese boards. Diners will order online using a QR code, with runners bringing out their choices.
The bar area occupying the rest of the western section is for fun and games – eight lanes for bag-toss (cornhole) contests, TVs galore for watching sports, and plenty of seating. Players and spectators can also enjoy a 24-brew self-service tap wall and snack menu.
The third and final stage of construction, an outdoor patio with its own tap wall, is expected to come together by mid-summer.
According to Frank Norberg – like his brother, an orthopedic surgeon in Minneapolis – the concept of a pickleball center with extra amenities is already popular in the Twin Cities. Courts and Pints will be the first to bring it to this region.
Jon Norberg attributes the explosion in pickleballing to its ease of entry, along with the opportunity to develop those fledgling skills all the way to the professional level. “There are low barriers to entry,” he says. “The cost of equipment is low. There will be no waiting for a court: Players will be able to reserve their courts by the hour at a particular time, up to seven days in advance.
“Here in our area, playing inside is going to be a huge advantage,” the Fargo native observes. “You can play year-round, no matter what the weather. And is there ever a day around here that doesn’t have wind?”
Admission to the courts will be limited to members, who will sign injury waivers as part of the process. Bronze (entry level) membership is free. As of last Friday, more than 700 had already signed up on Courts and Pints’ website, www.pickle.fun. Members can reserve up to two hours of court time per day seven days in advance, with a limit of seven days of play each week, paying a flat fee for each hour of play. Upgrades are available, too, including Founders-level memberships along with silver and gold levels still to be worked out.
“We had hoped that Courts and Pints would be ready to go months ago, but we’ve run into the typical construction delays,” Jon reports. Even now, a few elements will still be missing on the first phase’s opening day.
One of the most impactful, he says, is installation of sound-dampening material to dampen the inevitable noise of slapping whiffle-like balls with solid paddles, as well as players’ exuberant shouts.
“We need that acoustic insulation to keep the party rooms, bar and restaurant quiet enough for conversation,” he explains. “We’ll add it just as soon as it arrives.” But why won’t it be ready for the soft opening on June 2? “Tariffs,” Jon says. “Right now it’s stuck in the Pacific on a slow boat from China.”