Ventnor rules when it comes to pickleball. The Ventnor team crushed Margate in a noontime game at the Funky Pickle tournament held Friday and Saturday at the courts on Suffolk Avenue.

The Ventnor team of Mayor Tim Kriebel and Commissioner Lance Landgraf garnered 11 points, while the Margate team of Mayor Michael Collins and Commissioner Cathy Horn scored 1.

The commissioners enjoyed and laughed through the game as the announcer picked up on every nuance to garner laughs from the crowd, which consisted of four of Collins’ five children and wife on the Margate side and Commissioner Maria Mento and Kathy Style-Landgraf, sporting pom-poms, along with Kriebel's wife Jennifer Dahme, as the Ventnor cheerleading team.

The game, which was held for the first time this year, is sure to become a much anticipated, yet friendly, rivalry between the two cities.

Horn said she never played the game and didn’t even know the rules. Collins looked like he would be a ringer, but Landgraf, who said he only played one time this year, and Kriebel, who plays occasionally, contributed to the lopsided score.

Meanwhile, real pickleballers were playing more seriously at the city’s eight pickleball courts and four tennis courts striped for the tournament. Game play continued through the day in various formats, including a children’s event on Friday. Public safety, public works and other municipal employees of the two towns also faced off in friendly competitions.

The event included food trucks and a music festival that entertained spectators through the evening.

The annual tournament and music festival benefits the AMI Foundation and the Dr. Jan Astin Mobile Digital Mammography Van, which travels throughout the state to provide breast cancer screenings for women who do not have health insurance or have limited access to healthcare.

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Ventnor Funky PIckle

Ventnor took home the first-ever Commissioners Cup at the Funky Pickle tournament held July 26-27, 2024 at the Ventnor tennis courts on Suffolk Avenue.

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