Hanapepe rain doesn’t dampen pickleballers

KEKAHA — There were a lot of people indulging in pickleball Thursday at the courts where the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i Branch was hosting Na Ho‘omaka Hou pop-up food distribution in the shadow of the Kekaha Neighborhood Center.

“There’s a lot of people here,” said Roxy Vidinha, who just finished getting past the pair of Miki Piper and George Braun with her partner Darlene Shimatsu. “Normally, we would be at the Hanapepe tennis courts, but it was raining this morning so we moved to Kekaha.”

Vidinha said there normally are around 40 people who turn out for pickleball six days a week between Hanapepe and the Kekaha courts.

“We have four courts in use all the time,” Vidinha said. “There are a lot of people who enjoy playing pickleball on the Westside. We are normally in Hanapepe on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. We come to Kekaha on Mondays and Wednesdays for night games. It’s a lot of fun.”

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.