Cindy Magie serves during the championship match in the advanced division. Photo by Paul Matli

   Independence Day weekend in Clatsop County is filled with many things: A concert on July 3, an afternoon parade in downtown Warrenton followed by a fireworks display in Astoria along the river on July Fourth. With all these events happening in such a short time frame it would seem difficult to add anything else to the mix.

     Enter Pickleball.

     With Pickleball being the fastest growing sport in America there was no better time for Astoria Parks and Recreation to try something new.

        Astoria Parks and Rec Director Tyler Lyngstad wanted to add more community events to the calendar, so after having the first ever Pickleball tournament last year, July Fourth weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity for another event and another first: the July Fourth Star Spangled Pickleball Bash was held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Fred Lindstrom Park played host to 28 adult teams and five youth teams during the three-day event.

    The Bash included four divisions ranging from novice and youth, intermediate and advanced to challenger. Throughout the two days of competition, fans in attendance were entertained by long rallies, hard hits, music and shows of sportsmanship after each game.

      “Last year we had some weather issues, so we decided to have the tournament during a time when we knew the weather would be nice,” Lyngstad said. “It’s a good time to have some community events going on. Having the kids play was really cool.”

      For those who are unfamiliar with Pickleball, think of the game as a mashup of badminton, table tennis and regular tennis that’s played on a tennis court. It also has ties to the Pacific Northwest as the sport was introduced in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Since its introduction, the sport has expanded to a total of 19.8 million participants in the United States in 2024, according to the USA Pickleball website and the Sports and Fitness industry Association Topline Participation Report.

      Though around 70 % of participants at the July Fourth Bash were locals, there were teams from across the river in Long Beach, Washington and as far east as Maine. Also, with the different divisions, people from age 10 to 80 were able to try their hand.

        “The coolest thing about Pickleball is the age range,” Lyngstad said. “On Saturday we had several kids who were 10 or 11 years old and we had people who were in their 80s, so it’s really a perfect sport for everyone.”

      The advanced division kicked things off on Sunday morning. It was a battle for division supremacy that came down to a local pair and a group from Long Beach.

      Astoria residents Joe Cisneros and Cindy Magie got off to a slow start, but ended up getting hot at the right time to take home the first place prize. Despite the pair being separated by more than 20 years in age, they were at the same skill level and used that to play off each other well during the knockout competition.

       “It was a long day,” Cisneros said. “We started out playing games to 15 (points), which is something we’re not typically used to. So the first four games, it was pretty exhausting and I started to get worried I wouldn’t be able to make it, but we made the championship. Once we qualified for the playoffs they dropped the points down to 11 and from there we were able to turn on the jets and keep it rolling. “

    Both Magie and Cisneros have been playing Pickleball for about two years on and off. They said the beauty of the sport is how small the courts are and if you control the ball well you won’t have to move as much as you would in tennis.