Pickleball Court, Restaurant Coming To Jenks Outlet Mall

With more and more people playing pickleball in Tulsa, companies are hoping to cash in on the craze.

A lot of people play pickleball at churches or community centers like at Whiteside Park, but there's a growing trend of business owners promoting pickleball at their restaurants and bars.

At a modest court in Jenks, Caroline Luelf and her family get in some practice for an upcoming tournament.

"They just added this fence to the court in the last month or two," said Luelf.

Caroline is an ambassador for the US Pickleball Association.

"We wanna grow the sport; there's so many people that have heard of pickleball but don't know where to play or want to get into pickleball but don't know where to get lessons," she said.

She says the demand for pickleball has exploded in Tulsa, and the need for courts is growing just as fast as the sport.

"We want more courts," said Luelf. "We need more businesses because, again, this could be a social play, this could be recreational play, this could be competitive play."

Looking to cash in on the recreational side is Camp Pickle, a restaurant and bar that will offer eight pickleball courts along with activities like bowling at the Jenks Outlet Mall.

"50 million people played pickleball in the last year, so that is a phenomenal number," said CEO Robert Thompson.

He says he's using that excitement around pickleball to get people through the doors.

"You need some sort of social activation, and pickleball is a great one."

Camp Pickle joins several other projects already in the works, including another entertainment complex in Jenks coming to the Arkansas River called In a Pickle. Caroline hopes the excitement around the sport will continue to bring people together.

"So I really feel that's what's capturing America is that ability for generations to play together," said Thompson.

Camp Pickle doesn’t have a hard opening date yet, but it plans to be open in 2025.