Interest in pickleball, Washington's official state sport, spikes

Interest in pickleball — Washington's official state sport — has shot up by 275% since 2019, new data from Yelp shows.

Why it matters: Pickleball was invented by Washington residents, and it's always nice to see the rest of the country wise up to the good things we have going on here.

Details: Yelp looked at changes in consumer actions — such as viewing relevant business pages, sharing photos or posting reviews — to gauge interest in different hobbies from 2019 to 2022.

What they found: The growing buzz around pickleball dwarfed other leisure activities.

• Axe throwing, for instance, saw 68% growth in consumer interest since pre-pandemic times, while interest in photography and art classes rose by less than 10%.

The bottom line: We already knew that pickleball was the nation's fastest-growing sport. Now we know it's beating out glass blowing and cheese tasting as well.

Go deeper: Interest in pickleball exploded during the pandemic