Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome in.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our community connection on K one,
Speaker 1: the one you trust, and today we have Kumar and
Speaker 1: Maria and we're going to talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: pickleball and its impact on our fair community.
Speaker 2: How we done, kids?
Speaker 3: Good?
Speaker 2: Awesome? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Thanks Tom?
Speaker 2: Well, my goodness is what is year five of the
Speaker 2: four five? Yes? Correct? Tell us a little bit about.
Speaker 5: This, Okay, So we started this, like you said, five
Speaker 5: years ago. We had a tremendous participation rate over the years.
Speaker 5: It's only keep growing every year. This year we're right
Speaker 5: around two hundred and twenty players coming from many states,
Speaker 5: mostly from Oklahoma, but we have from Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri,
Speaker 5: Texas and probably you know from some of the other states.
Speaker 5: But yeah, it's a great turnout. It's October eighteenth through
Speaker 5: the twentieth at Hillcrest Country Club Tennis Complex.
Speaker 1: And that is very very nice. Now, Maria, you always
Speaker 1: tell us because she's with visit barblesfelt. Yeah, it all
Speaker 1: starts off with a visit, that's right, and we've got
Speaker 1: a lot of people coming in to visit how this
Speaker 1: impact does.
Speaker 3: So I was just looking up those numbers because the
Speaker 3: pickleball tournament has been fantastic. It's somewhere between seventy five
Speaker 3: and one hundred people that are spending the night for
Speaker 3: two to three nights. So of course they're all going
Speaker 3: out to eat, they're staying in hotels. I'm sure someone
Speaker 3: may accidentally have a pickleball accident, so maybe they've got
Speaker 3: to go to Walgreens and get a band aid or something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: And so that is just a really significant amount of
Speaker 3: fiscal impact. So, you know, there's a couple of different
Speaker 3: things that we measure when we talk about visitors coming
Speaker 3: into the community, and one of those is that economic impact,
Speaker 3: which is the big ripple effect, and you know, it
Speaker 3: pays all the different and.
Speaker 4: We really like to talk we love to talk about that.
Speaker 3: It's a great number, but we love to talk about
Speaker 3: that fiscal impact, the tax dollars that are coming back,
Speaker 3: the way that the community members see that money coming
Speaker 3: back into the community.
Speaker 4: And so when we have events.
Speaker 3: Like I mean, I would like to have a pickleball
Speaker 3: tournament two or three times a year, Kumar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, come on, buddy, what do you do it here?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that would be just a really huge
Speaker 3: impact for us. But as it is, having one and
Speaker 3: having them in our hotels going out to eat, I
Speaker 3: mean it's a significant impact.
Speaker 4: I can't find that exact number.
Speaker 3: I wasn't ready for that particular question, but it has
Speaker 3: been really, really good.
Speaker 4: Hundreds of thousands of dollars that have come in the numbers.
Speaker 5: I remember you sharing with me last time was somewhere
Speaker 5: between two fifty and three hundred thousand.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the fift weekend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, good weekend.
Speaker 4: And then so that's just a way to keep.
Speaker 3: Our economy going. You know, we have so many great
Speaker 3: people that live here and work here and do things.
Speaker 3: But when we bring people in from out of town
Speaker 3: and we use their tax dollars, you know, then that's
Speaker 3: helping our infrastructure and relieving the burden from our citizens.
Speaker 4: And so we love to host people. We love to
Speaker 4: have things like that happening. We have a lot happening
Speaker 4: this weekend too, So.
Speaker 1: And Kumar, again, this is the fifth year for the
Speaker 1: pickleball tournament. I remember several years ago when I had
Speaker 1: you and Kent Stroman in here, right and I had
Speaker 1: to ask you what is pickleball? And now they're televising
Speaker 1: you know, World Championships TV.
Speaker 4: It's huge.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's the fastest growing cup
Speaker 5: sport in the United States. It's growing at a phenomenal
Speaker 5: rate of you know, anywhere between twenty twenty five to
Speaker 5: thirty percent a year. And you know, the beauty about
Speaker 5: the sport, as you know, is, you know, it's it's
Speaker 5: for all ages. It is no matter what size of
Speaker 5: shape you are in. You know, you see grandparents playing
Speaker 5: with grand grandchildren and husband and wife, brother, sister. You know,
Speaker 5: it's a it's a great family activity and it.
Speaker 2: Brings groups together.
Speaker 5: And as I as many people have asked me, you know,
Speaker 5: what is it that you enjoy about the sport.
Speaker 2: It's the social aspect of it. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I've made more friends through pickleball than anything else combined,
Speaker 5: you know, So it's it's really phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Well, you know you've got ahead of this and you know,
Speaker 1: congratulations on doing that because your timing, which is perfect.
Speaker 2: We now have pickleball courts, yes, all over town. We
Speaker 2: got at least.
Speaker 5: Wells on at Sooner Park thanks to the City of
Speaker 5: Bartlepool and the citizens who voted for it in the
Speaker 5: twenty twenty bond election. And that's been constructed and was
Speaker 5: opened about a few months ago. And you go there,
Speaker 5: go there on any given night.
Speaker 2: It's packed. It is, it's packed.
Speaker 5: With players, and it's so satisfying to see that growing
Speaker 5: here and it makes an impact of having people not
Speaker 5: only enjoy the sport, but an incentive for them to
Speaker 5: live and work and play here.
Speaker 4: Absolutely right.
Speaker 3: I mean, anyone that's coming for this event may be
Speaker 3: considering retiring at some point, and knowing what kind of
Speaker 3: amenities we have in our community just makes a huge difference,
Speaker 3: and pickleball is definitely one of those.
Speaker 4: So credit to Kumar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't want to take all the community with
Speaker 2: this expanding.
Speaker 1: I noticed we also have other courts that modify their
Speaker 1: tennis courts.
Speaker 2: Just for pickleball from time to time too.
Speaker 1: Now, with all this kind of growing up around, you know,
Speaker 1: this tournament that you launched twive years ago, do you
Speaker 1: see the tournament getting any bigger with more access.
Speaker 5: To more So, what I'm seeing is there are more
Speaker 5: and more tournaments cropping up all the time, and that
Speaker 5: has affected the long term tournaments too. So it's almost
Speaker 5: seems like, you know, any anywhere you turn around, there's
Speaker 5: a tournament every weekend in this area and and so
Speaker 5: it's it's it's phenomenal. I mean there's now there's a
Speaker 5: new format of play called Minor League Major and Minor
Speaker 5: League pick a Ball, which is a team format team
Speaker 5: of four players, and that has made a huge impact
Speaker 5: in the in the community. And know there's Major League
Speaker 5: pick a Ball that you know has a draft process
Speaker 5: and all that good stuff with pro players.
Speaker 2: And yes, it's pretty.
Speaker 5: Yeah, lots of money are coming is coming into this.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pose, are we ready for pro pickleball?
Speaker 4: What I really want is I'm looking at the.
Speaker 2: Executive general manager right here, right what's the name of.
Speaker 3: That place in Wichita chicken in Yeah, I want the
Speaker 3: place where I can have food and watch my friends.
Speaker 5: Let's get there first and then I'm ready.
Speaker 4: I'm ready for the tournament. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think we have a market for it. Yeah, Oh
Speaker 2: my goodness.
Speaker 1: You know, I just like I said, just a couple
Speaker 1: of days ago, I was hearing that one of the
Speaker 1: sports channels, I believe it's ESPN, is going to be
Speaker 1: having like the World Series of Pickleball, And I don't
Speaker 1: know how they got where they are to determine a
Speaker 1: national champion. But they're televising this and I'm I was
Speaker 1: just kind of grinning. I'm just thinking myself, well five
Speaker 1: years ago to call guys came in and said, hey,
Speaker 1: have you ever heard of pickleball?
Speaker 2: And look at.
Speaker 5: That it's really since COVID, since twenty twenty that this
Speaker 5: really has skyrocketed and and and now yeah, you're right,
Speaker 5: ESPN is broadcasting pro games and more and more. You know,
Speaker 5: people are hungry for for for pick a ball and
Speaker 5: getting more and more activities into it.
Speaker 2: Now do we have but tickets for this or.
Speaker 5: Is this a kind of it's a free event of
Speaker 5: course players players, Yeah, players have to register and of
Speaker 5: course registration is closed. But spectators, you know, we're welcome.
Speaker 5: We're welcoming them and have them come and visit us
Speaker 5: and see see the fund that's going on at Hill Christ.
Speaker 1: Now, Maria, we have all kinds of things in our
Speaker 1: community to draw people.
Speaker 2: This is this is one of them. This is a
Speaker 2: really good one too.
Speaker 1: But the thing is that every time we have one
Speaker 1: of these of ripple effects, and what a beautiful ripple
Speaker 1: they are. Yeah, these are big pluses, like the outline them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And if I may, I just want to
Speaker 3: talk about some of the other things that are happening
Speaker 3: in Bartlesville. Like you said, they're all kind of a
Speaker 3: ripple effect. Here's another one that has grown over the
Speaker 3: last five years, the Gathering at the Rock, which is
Speaker 3: the car show that takes place this weekend. They have
Speaker 3: a reliability run. They are all hot rods. They are
Speaker 3: literally coming from all over the world. I think there
Speaker 3: is someone even coming from Australia. I don't know that
Speaker 3: they brought their hot rod, but they're coming to the event.
Speaker 4: And this event started it was because of COVID.
Speaker 3: They were looking for a place to have this car
Speaker 3: show five years ago and they wanted to be able
Speaker 3: to have it somewhere where they could have it outside
Speaker 3: where they would kind of be away from the big city.
Speaker 3: And so the organizers chose Bartlesville. And so this year
Speaker 3: is the Gathering at the Rock. I think they have
Speaker 3: four hundred and fifty cars, So you can go out
Speaker 3: to Woola Rock on Saturday and see these incredible cars.
Speaker 3: They will also have a street park Aready on Friday
Speaker 3: and Saturday downtown in front of the Hilton Garden End
Speaker 3: and the public is welcome to come to that that
Speaker 3: is free Boofest is this weekend, and so that's I mean,
Speaker 3: everybody's already ready for Halloween.
Speaker 2: Judge.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh I'm a judge. To Tom, that's right, we're judges. Well,
Speaker 4: we'll have to plan on that for sure. It will
Speaker 4: be fun.
Speaker 3: I love it that Trey said it'll take about fifteen
Speaker 3: minutes and I said, no, it's not.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was like, no, those kids aren't gonna get it.
Speaker 3: But you know, Boofest is coming up, the gathering at
Speaker 3: the Rock. There's so much that's happening. Oh, super cute
Speaker 3: event called bark Littlesville Haunted Halloween Party for dogs and
Speaker 3: you can go and get your picture taken with your
Speaker 3: dog dressed in costume. It's just a fun, silly thing.
Speaker 3: Go to visit Bartlesville dot com and you'll find it.
Speaker 3: Of course, Dracula this is this weekend, the ballet and
Speaker 3: oh yeah, and I can't wait to see it.
Speaker 4: It just sounds so beautiful. And then the Ghost Walk
Speaker 4: is next week. So you know, here's my thought.
Speaker 3: I know that someone that's coming for the pickleball tournament
Speaker 3: may not be able to go to all of these events,
Speaker 3: but if they go to our calendar for something else,
Speaker 3: or they're looking for thanks. They can see that we
Speaker 3: are an active, vibrant community. We have a lot of
Speaker 3: things going on, a lot of choices for people, and
Speaker 3: I think that makes a difference when you're looking for
Speaker 3: a place to either visit or come and move to stay.
Speaker 2: Like she says Kumar, it starts with a visit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right, that's what I want to have it.
Speaker 5: Do a quick plug in for our sponsors.
Speaker 2: Let's do that.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Our best bank has been in our tournament sponsor
Speaker 5: for for all five years and they're continuing to do
Speaker 5: so and visit Bartleville is a major sponsor, American Heritage Bank,
Speaker 5: and so we wouldn't be able to do this tournament
Speaker 5: without the help of our sponsors. And we do things
Speaker 5: that are above and beyond what a typical tournament is,
Speaker 5: you know, with free shirts, free lunch, prize money for
Speaker 5: all the winners, and so on and so forth. So yeah,
Speaker 5: we thank all of our sponsors and for the community
Speaker 5: for help making this happen.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you both for being here. I
Speaker 1: know this is the mornings could be a challenge. I
Speaker 1: want to thank you both and thank you again for
Speaker 1: listening and watching our program.
Speaker 2: Right here on Kwan thanks to good Time. Hi, I'm
Speaker 2: quinship