Handball courts make a comeback in Palmer Park

Note: Due to a very rainy Saturday on the 6th, the grand reopening will be held Saturday, October 13 at noon.

Detroit has many recreational sports to choose from—bowling, fowling, feather bowling. Perhaps it’s time to make handball a thing again.

The People for Palmer Park are hosting a grand reopening of the handball courts at the park on Saturday at noon. The old courts were in awful shape, as seen below, but because of a partnership between the Michigan Handball Association (MHA) and the People for Palmer Park, along with help from the city’s Parks and Rec department, the courts will reopen to the public.

Courtesy of the People for Palmer Park

The courts were last used as compost bins for manure and wood chips from the nearby Mounted Police horses. No worries! All of that has been cleaned up.

Handball is apparently a lot like racquetball, except players use a gloved hand instead of a racquet. National championships for the sport were held in the Palmer Park courts between 1950 and 1972.

The MHA raised $12,000 to restore the courts, which included tuck-pointing and painting the walls, resurfacing a court, and painting appropriate lines.

The public is welcome to come to the reopening on Saturday, where the first games will be played there in years. It’s nice to see another piece of the once-grand park come back to life.