Milwaukee Riverkeeper, pro pickleball players partner for cleanup

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Pickleball tournament Menomonee River cleanup

Professional pickleball players helped the Milwaukee community clean up the Menomonee River Valley on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Professional pickleball players helped the Milwaukee community clean up on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper and the Professional Pickleball Association partnered with Veolia North America for a Menomonee River Valley cleanup event. It was a prelude to this weekend's pickleball tournament.

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"We're in the valley, so it's a wind tunnel, so you're finding a variety of things," said Steven Hunter with AOC Community Advisory Committee. "Plastic cups, some paper wrappers or plastic wrappers, but mostly straws, bottle caps – the smaller things that are easy for leaves to cover up that will easily get into the water system."

The Veolia Milwaukee Open pickleball tournament runs Thursday through Sunday and is the city's biggest pickleball event. Matches take place each day from noon to 8 p.m. at the Baird Center.