Fred Poppe Regional Park — Palm Bay, Florida

Fred Poppe Regional Park is Palm Bay's 200-acre regional park at 1951 Malabar Rd NW, with lighted ball fields, a dog park, disc golf, cricket, four fishing lakes, pavilions and the Ted Whitlock Community Center.

The City of Palm Bay facility page describes a 200-acre park that is home to Brevard Soccer Alliance, Bayside Bears, and the Brevard Caribbean American Sports and Cultural Association, with four lakes for fishing. The listed phone, (321) 952-3231, is the same number the city gives for the Ted Whitlock Community Center inside the park.

Palm Bay Regional Park and Fred Poppe Regional Park are the same place. At a November 12, 2024 Recreation Advisory Board meeting, speakers called Palm Bay Regional Park the original name of the park, and the board voted to recommend to City Council to rename the park as Palm Bay Regional Park. As of October 12, 2026, the City of Palm Bay directory and facility pages still use the name Fred Poppe Regional Park.

The park is pet friendly, but the City of Palm Bay posts that animals are not allowed on any of the athletic fields at Fred Poppe Regional Park (City of Palm Bay facility page). Dogs have their own fenced area: the facility page lists a dog park for small and large dogs.

Fred Poppe Regional Park has lighted soccer, softball and baseball fields, a cricket pitch, a disc golf course, basketball and volleyball courts, trails, a gymnasium and an all-inclusive playground, according to the City of Palm Bay directory.

The Palm Bay directory entry lists Cricket, a Disc Golf Course, a Dog Park, Fishing and Free Wi-Fi among the amenities, along with lighted baseball, soccer and softball fields, volleyball courts, bike, hike and jogging trails, a gazebo, grills, meeting rooms and a memorial area. The facility page adds that the pavilions come with charcoal grills and restrooms and that electric or water may be available at additional cost.

Those partners come from the Palm Bay Recreation Athletic Leagues page, which lists Bayside Bears Youth Football and Cheerleading, the Brevard Soccer Alliance and the Palm Bay Youth Softball Association at Fred Poppe Regional Park, plus adult cricket and ultimate frisbee. The Brevard Church Softball Association plays Tuesday nights at Liberty Park and, if necessary, at Fred Poppe Regional Park. Palm Bay posts field closures on a rain-out hotline, 321-952-3445.

The disc golf course was built in stages. In November 2023 Palm Bay Public Works finalized grading the Disc Golf course, and on January 2, 2024 the Parks Division reported that nine of the 36 holes were complete. City pages checked in October 2026 list the course but give no hole count, so the January 2024 figure is the latest one published.

The Fred Poppe Regional Park playground is a $480,000 all-inclusive playground that the city said would meet ADA standards, and the city directory now lists a 100% handicapped and special needs accessible playground at the park.

A City of Palm Bay news release dated December 26, 2024 said the old playground would close on December 30, 2024, and listed all ground surfacing will be rubberized surfacing, climbing rock, wheelchair accessible merry go round among the features, plus 12 swings (handicap, child, adult and parent/adult), artificial mounds, 7 slides, sunshades and a climbing net, with completion estimated for March 2025.

Funding had been lined up more than a year earlier. In November 2023 the Palm Bay Parks Division reported that $500,000 was secured to replace the playground at Fred Poppe Regional Park, a larger figure than the $480,000 cost the city announced in December 2024. Minutes from November 12, 2024 set demolition for January 6, 2025 and installation for the first week of February 2025 (Recreation Advisory Board minutes).

Small upgrades followed. In May 2025 the Palm Bay Acting Recreation Director reported new benches at the playground, new irrigation, restriping of the parking lot and resealing and repainting of the cricket, Police Athletic League (PAL) pavilion and softball buildings (RAB minutes, May 6, 2025).

Fred Poppe Regional Park pavilions rent for $105 a day plus tax for the large PAL and Scout pavilions and $80 a day plus tax for the Cricket pavilion, and Ted Whitlock Community Center rooms rent by the hour.

The Palm Bay Recreation Rentals page sets these rates. Reservations are first come, first served, generally up to one year in advance, and pavilions can be booked on city holidays, unlike the Ted Whitlock Community Center.

The Palm Bay facility page describes two large pavilions and one small pavilion at Fred Poppe Regional Park, all with charcoal grills and restrooms, while the Rentals page prices the Cricket pavilion as a standard pavilion; both city pages are reported here as published (facility page). Weekend rentals of the Ted Whitlock large room and full gym carry a four-hour minimum.

The Ted Whitlock Community Center inside Fred Poppe Regional Park is an 18,000 square foot Palm Bay recreation center with a gymnasium, banquet kitchen, a divisible multi-use room, a meeting room and a billiards room, open six days a week.

Its own City of Palm Bay page gives the address as 370 Championship Cir. NW and the hours as Monday - Friday: 9 AM - 8:30PM Saturday: 9 AM - 4:30 PM Sunday: CLOSED, closed on holidays. The Rentals page instead gives the center's address as 1951 Malabar Rd. NW, the park's address. Minors need a parent-signed waiver on file for open gym.

The center also hosts the city's indoor adult pickleball league. The Palm Bay Recreation Winter Adult Pickleball League at the Ted Whitlock Community Center begins Wednesday, November 4, costs $50 for two players, plus $5 for each additional player, is limited to 32 teams and closes registration on Wednesday, October 21. Pickleball mixers run the second Monday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 PM for $5 per person.

The next Fred Poppe Regional Park projects are a new entrance bridge from Malabar Road, expected to go out for bids in early Fiscal Year 2026, and a Kimley-Horn master plan whose top priority is pickleball courts.

The bridge has been on the Palm Bay list since 2023. September 2023 minutes describe a bridge to the park entrance that would carry two-way traffic and two pedestrian walkways, paid for with impact fees. On January 2, 2024 the Parks Division reported that City Council approved the contract for the bridge, including a turn lane, at a project cost of about $4 million (RAB minutes, January 2, 2024). In May 2025 the Acting Recreation Director said the engineering firm should be ready to release the bid in early Fiscal Year 2026 (RAB minutes, May 6, 2025).

In October 2025 Palm Bay staff presented the final draft of the Fred Poppe Regional Park Master Plan from Kimley-Horn. Its priorities, in order, were pickleball courts, an amphitheater and event lawn, multipurpose field enhancements, drainage improvements at the baseball fields, a playground near the soccer complex, and later a pickleball clubhouse and championship courts. Staff planned to explore a partnership with the Brevard County Tourist Development Council for the pickleball phases, and the minutes record a recommendation to reconsider costly custom bridge designs in favor of more cost-effective modular or prefabricated options, with staff confirming a reevaluation of the bridge.

The pickleball idea is older than the plan. In November 2024 Palm Bay staff reported preliminary conversations with Kimley-Horn on the probable cost of a 32-court tournament style complex at Fred Poppe Regional Park, built in two phases, alongside eight-court sets at Fred Lee, Nungesser and Veterans parks. A separate citywide Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which staff described in October 2025 as covering the whole Palm Bay park system rather than one site, is meant to guide priorities across all parks and to use impact fees efficiently (RAB minutes, October 2025).

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay Recreation Department website and its Fred Poppe Regional Park listing.