Apollo Pickleball Partners with Fairgrounds — and the MK47 Lands in Ottawa

We're thrilled to announce a partnership we've been excited about for a while: Apollo Pickleball has teamed up with Fairgrounds Racket Club — one of Canada's fastest-growing public racket clubs. Starting now, our flagship MK47 Signature Pro is available to buy and demo at Fairgrounds, and the timing couldn't be better: Fairgrounds is opening a brand-new location in Ottawa in early July 2026.

This is what we mean when we talk about building Canadian pickleball. A Canadian paddle brand and a Canadian racket club, working together to put premium, locally-engineered paddles directly in the hands of players — in person, on the court, where it matters.

Who is Fairgrounds?

If you haven't played at a Fairgrounds yet, here's the short version: it's a Canadian public racket club built on a refreshingly simple idea — play belongs to everyone.

No membership committees. No dress codes. No gatekeeping. Just quality courts, a welcoming community, and the belief that sport should be approachable, not exclusive. As they put it themselves: "The world's too serious. Come play."

That philosophy has fueled one of the most impressive expansion stories in Canadian racket sports. Fairgrounds has grown into a national network of premium indoor facilities, offering both pickleball and padel — two of the fastest-growing sports in the world — under one roof.

A Canadian club, coast to coast

Fairgrounds has been opening locations at a remarkable pace across the country. Here's where you'll find them:

That's a genuinely Canadian growth story — a homegrown brand bringing premium indoor racket sports to communities from Vancouver to Ottawa. And the new Ottawa location adds the nation's capital to the map.

What makes Fairgrounds different

There are a lot of places to play pickleball in Canada. Here's why Fairgrounds stands out from the typical rec-center court or members-only club:

The partnership: try the MK47 before you buy

Here's the part we're most excited about. The Apollo MK47 Signature Pro — our flagship paddle, co-designed with Maria Klokotzky, Canada's #1 ranked women's pro — is now available to buy and demo at Fairgrounds.

This solves one of the biggest challenges in buying a premium paddle online: you can't feel it before you commit. With this partnership, you can pick up an MK47 at Fairgrounds, take it onto a real court, and hit with it before you decide. No guessing. No gamble. Just real feel, real swings, real games.

Why demo the MK47?

The MK47 isn't just another paddle on a pro-shop wall. It's Apollo's signature pro paddle, engineered in Edmonton and co-designed with Canada's #1 ranked women's pro, Maria Klokotzky. A few reasons it's worth picking up at Fairgrounds:

It's a control-first paddle that can still generate serious power — the kind of paddle that rewards all-court players, tennis crossovers, and anyone who wants pro-level performance without the $400+ price tag of imported US brands. The best way to understand it is to hit with it. Now you can.

Ottawa, this one's for you

The new Fairgrounds Ottawa location opens in early July 2026, bringing premium indoor pickleball (and padel) to the nation's capital. If you're an Ottawa player, this is a big deal: a brand-new, no-gatekeeping racket club, with Apollo's flagship paddle available to try the moment you walk in.

Whether you're brand new to the sport, a weekend warrior, or chasing a higher DUPR, Fairgrounds Ottawa is built for you — and so is the MK47. Come open the doors with us.

Two Canadian brands. One mission.
Grow the game, right here at home. 🇨🇦