Parks Department Joins Pickleball Mania

County pickleball courts at Froemming Park in Franklin. Photo taken June 1, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Parks opened the county park system’s first outdoor pickleball courts Monday morning.

Parks has built out six public pickleball courts that opened today at Froemming Park in Franklin. They are available for free on a first-come, first-served basis, or can be rented for a fee.

Pickleball has been around for more than 50 years, according to USA Pickleball, the sport’s national governing body, but has exploded in popularity in recent years, becoming the fastest growing sport in the U.S.

After taking off first in the coastal states of the U.S., the game reached the Midwest and Milwaukee in recent years.

“We knew at county parks that we really needed to catch up and make sure that we started doing this,” Parks Director Guy Smith told Urban Milwaukee.

There are still fewer than a dozen outdoor pickleball courts, and even fewer that are public and free to play. Players often make due at tennis courts, where the nets are taller and the court boundaries spread farther.

“There’s a huge demand for it,” Smith said.

Local pickleball players were so excited about the new courts they were lining up to play before officials had a chance to officially open them today. Every court was full before an hour had passed, and players were still arriving.

The first dedicated pickleball courts in the county parks system were built out at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex, also in Franklin. Parks received funding in 2022 to repurpose the former tennis courts at Froemming Park into pickleball courts.

“We have plans to try to geographically and equitably — across the county — provide this to everyone,” Smith said, “because it can be for youth, it can be for adults, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Across the county are old asphalt pads for tennis courts that have since fallen into disrepair. Many of these will be likely targets for future pickleball courts.

Parks plans to request funding in 2025 to redevelop the old and severely dilapidated tennis courts at Brown Deer Park into pickleball courts, Smith said. The department is also working with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) on a flood management project in Jackson Park that will incorporate new courts.

Several current and former county officials joined Parks to open the outdoor pickleball courts, including County Executive David Crowley; county supervisors Kathleen Vincent, Patti Logsdon and Steve Taylor; and former supervisors Joseph Czarnezki and Peter Burgelis.

“Milwaukee County residents deserve more affordable recreational activity options, and our new pickleball courts at Froemming Park in Franklin will help accomplish just that,” Crowley said. “The Froemming Park Pickleball Courts are part of a broader vision to invest in our parks and ensure our recreational facilities are safe and accessible for everyone. I want to extend my gratitude to everyone involved in making this project a reality, and I can’t wait to see residents, families, and children out at Froemming Park this summer and beyond.”

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