iN VIDEO: Vernon club creates world’s largest ‘Pickleball Christmas Tree’

A Vernon pickleball club has created what is probably the largest Christmas tree made out of pickleball in the world in the hope to raise donations for the food bank.

The tree stands more than 12-feet tall and is made up of more than 350 pickleballs.

The tree is located at the Okanagan Wealth Advisors Pickleball Complex in Vernon and members are encouraged to hang a tree decoration and at the same time bring non-perishable food items to donate to the Vernon Foodbank.

READ MORE: Vernon's passionate pickleballers raise $1M in just 3 weeks

The Vernon Pickleball Association hopes it can collect 1,000 pounds of food and hygiene products before Christmas.

"I'm very thankful for having so many dedicated club members who volunteer their time and energy to make the VPA a success, and this includes Marco Longley who designed and built the tree," Vernon Pickleball Association president Myron Hocevar said in a media release.

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The tree's creator spent months collecting broken pickleballs before building the tree in his garage.

The club is now challenging other pickleball clubs to create their own pickleball-inspired Christmas trees and to collect donations for their local food bank.


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Ben Bulmer

After a decade of globetrotting, U.K. native Ben Bulmer ended up settling in Canada in 2009. Calling Vancouver home he headed back to school and studied journalism at Langara College. From there he headed to Ottawa before winding up in a small anglophone village in Quebec, where he worked for three years at a feisty English language newspaper. Ben is always on the hunt for a good story, an interesting tale and to dig up what really matters to the community.