Pickleball fever takes over country club

Brookhaven Country Club has hosted hundreds of athletes and visitors since Nov. 1.

Three separate competitions took place at the venue, which remodeled tennis courts to provide 78 pickleball courts, built a raised viewing area and transformed part of Golfing Green Drive into Pickleball Boulevard for the event's second year.

The DUPR Collegiate Nationals and the Major League Pickleball premier- and challenger-level playoffs were held Nov. 1-3, and the United Pickleball Association's Pickleball World Pickleball Championships were Nov. 3-10.

The event included professional and amateur play, a celebrity showdown that featured Dirk Nowitzki and Terrell Owens among others Thursday night, camps, clinics and live music each evening by Justin Moore, Payton Smith, Sadie Bass, Tigirlily Gold, Mackenzie Carpenter and Morgan Evans.

According to the UPA, last year's event brought more than 50,000 fans and 3,500 competitors to the Farmers Branch country club and brought an estimated $14 million in economic impact to the area.

On Sept. 10, Perla Travera, director of economic development, tourism and planning, told the Farmers Branch City Council that with the city's contribution, which comes from the hotel occupancy tax, the city received $467,497 from the State of Texas Event Trust Grant for this year's event.

Meredith Dowdy, tourism manager, said that 4,000 to 9,000 people were expected at the event each day.