The City of Dayton Department of Recreation publishes a seasonal guide that lists its recreation center hours, fees, and drop-in program schedule, including pickleball. On September 25, 2026 we read the Summer 2026 Program Guide page by page and checked it against our own listings for the three Dayton venues it covers: Jim Nichols Tennis Center, Greater Dayton Recreation Center, and Lohrey Recreation Center. Two of our listings priced pickleball as pay-to-play when the city actually runs it free on a schedule, and one listing told players to bring their own net when the city provides equipment.
Free drop-in pickleball at two rec centers
The program guide lists a Drop-in Pickleball session at three city recreation centers, in an indoor gym, with two courts and equipment provided, open to ages 18 and up. It is free with registration. Our listing for Greater Dayton Recreation Center showed only the paid general admission rate ($3 daily, $10 monthly, $80 yearly) with no mention of the free session. Our listing for Lohrey Recreation Center went further and told players to bring their own net, when the program description says equipment is provided. We corrected both.
- Greater Dayton Recreation Center: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, free with registration, Jun 6 to Aug 29, 2026 season.
- Lohrey Recreation Center: Saturday, noon to 3 p.m., free with registration, Jun 6 to Aug 29, 2026 season, portable equipment provided.
A third location in the same program, Northwest Recreation Center, runs the session on weekdays from noon to 2 p.m., but we do not carry a listing for it, so there is no link to add here.
Jim Nichols Tennis Center is not simply free
Our listing for Jim Nichols Tennis Center had listed cost as simply "Free" and hours as 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., staffed. The program guide says the hard courts, where pickleball is played with free portable nets available on request, run dawn to dusk daily, first come first served, except during city programming or rentals. Walk-up play is free in that sense. But the guide also lists a $20 per court per hour rate to reserve a court, monthly passes from $20 to $25, and season passes from $100 to $120. None of that appeared on our page. We corrected the hours to dawn to dusk and rewrote the cost field to include the reservation and pass rates.
What we corrected today
- Greater Dayton Recreation Center: added the free Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday drop-in session to the cost field.
- Lohrey Recreation Center: changed nets from "bring your own" to "portable provided," and added the free Saturday drop-in session.
- Jim Nichols Tennis Center: corrected hours to dawn to dusk, and added the per-court reservation fee and pass rates that the "Free" label left out.
Source: City of Dayton Department of Recreation, Summer 2026 Program Guide, checked September 25, 2026.
See every venue we track in the Dayton, OH court directory.