Eleven elected officials from across the Milwaukee area will trade council chambers for the pickleball court on Thursday, Aug. 27, when the Jackson Park Farmers Market hosts a beginner-friendly tournament called Play Pickleball with Your Local Politician. The event runs from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Jackson Park pickleball courts near S. 43rd Street and the Kinnickinnic River Parkway, opening with a half-hour beginner lesson before tournament play begins at 3:30 p.m.
The lineup includes Wisconsin state Sen. Tim Carpenter, state Reps. Karen Kirsch and Priscilla Prado, Milwaukee County Supervisors Anne O'Connor, Shawn Rolland and Sky Z. Capriolo, Milwaukee Alders JoCasta Zamarripa, Scott Spiker and Peter Burgelis, Milwaukee County Comptroller Liz Sumner, and Village of West Milwaukee President John Stalewski, according to OnMilwaukee. The tournament is designed for beginners and brings together local residents and elected officials for a friendly scramble format, per the same report. Registration costs $10 per person and requires signing up in advance online through SignUpGenius.
A Summer Series Built Around a New Court
The Aug. 27 event caps off a summer-long Jackson Park Farmers Market Pickleball Series that Milwaukee County Supervisor Capriolo launched in July, featuring beginner clinics and competitive play throughout the season, according to WisPolitics. The series has a fairly new home to work with: Milwaukee County Parks officially opened the sport courts at Jackson Park, including four dedicated pickleball courts alongside tennis and futsal courts, in November 2025 following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, as reported by Urban Milwaukee.
Those courts didn't appear in a vacuum. Urban Milwaukee's reporting notes the construction was funded through an $80 million flood mitigation partnership between Milwaukee County Parks and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, which is removing more than 2,100 feet of concrete river channel to restore natural flow along the Kinnickinnic River. Following severe regional storms, MMSD accelerated work across four Milwaukee park flood basins, including Jackson Park and Wilson Park, to add roughly 200 million gallons of stormwater storage capacity, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee.
Part of a Bigger County-Wide Court Boom
Jackson Park's courts fit into a broader expansion of the county's pickleball footprint. Milwaukee County Parks opened its first dedicated outdoor pickleball courts at Froemming Park in Franklin in July 2024, a move that kicked off a system-wide rollout bringing courts to West Milwaukee and Jackson parks, Urban Milwaukee's coverage of the 2024 launch shows. Citywide, municipal directory data cited by Pickleheads counts 12 pickleball court locations with 46 total courts in Milwaukee as of 2026, including 41 outdoor courts spread across 10 public and private sites.
The local push mirrors a national surge. Pickleball participation grew 22.8% in 2025 to reach 24.3 million players nationwide, a 479% increase over five years that has made it the fastest-growing sport in the country for five consecutive years, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. The same research found teens and young adults aged 13 to 24 now post the highest participation rates of any age bracket, with female players making up 42.9% of all participants — a shift Hoodline also detailed in its coverage of Greenfield's new courts at Dan Jansen Park.
Market Day Extras and Traffic Heads-Up
Beyond the courts, the Jackson Park Farmers Market itself will be in full swing during the tournament. Founded in 2015 in partnership with the Jackson Park Community Association, the volunteer-run market typically hosts between 30 and 40 local vendors each week during its summer season, per its own program description, and Aug. 27's edition will feature more than 30 vendors selling produce, baked goods, cheese, flowers, honey, prepared foods, beverages and locally made goods. The market will also offer live music, kids activities, community organizations and wellness resources, and those who'd rather watch than play are welcome to cheer on competitors and browse the market stalls, per OnMilwaukee.
Attendees driving in should plan for detours. Major utility construction along S. 43rd Street adjacent to Jackson Park — an American Transmission Company underground power line replacement project co-announced by Alderpersons Peter Burgelis and JoCasta Zamarripa, both of whom are scheduled to play in the tournament — began in mid-2025 and will cause traffic detours and parking disruptions through 2027, according to Urban Milwaukee's reporting, which Hoodline also covered in its look at the S. 43rd Street project. The project is replacing electrical infrastructure installed in the 1950s.
