By RUSSELL JONES
BRANDON — As the temperatures rose into the high 90s on Saturday, 34 teams of Cornhole players made the journey from all over the state to the Brandon Inn for the first-ever Vermont State Cornhole Championships.
“Despite the oppressive heat, we had a great turnout and a good day of Cornhole,” event organizer and town recreation director Bill Moore said. “We were able to make connections with Cornhole leagues from all over the state that will help ensure next year’s event is even better.”
Planned as an all-day event, Moore said they were actually grateful it didn’t take all day as the weather was sweltering. Although Moore said that good planning and preparation helped mitigate the heat somewhat.
“Thanks to the giant tent from Celebration Rentals, along with the many fans and misting stations, we were able to keep everyone cool,” he said.
The 34 teams competed in a bracket-style tournament with the eventual winners, Barre residents T.J. Kennison and Derek Fraioli, picking up statewide bragging rights and $400. Their team name was the Cornhole Bombers.
The event was also a fundraiser for the Lion’s Club and the Downtown Brandon Alliance. Moore credited Devon Fuller, of the DBA, and Cassandra Hayes, of the Lion’s Club, with helping make sure the event was successful.
Moore expects next year to be more robust and definitely larger.
“We expect to at least double, maybe even triple, the number of teams next year,” he said. “We will putting the 16 league champs from around the state directly into the round of 32 and have 16 pools that we’ll put other registered teams in that will eventually make it into the round of 32 against the league champs,” he explained.
Much of the work they did this year should make next year’s event go more smoothly.
“There was a lot of work we did this year that we won’t have to do next year,” Fuller said. “Now we have all the boards and the scorecards and the fencing, all that will make next year so much easier.”
In fact, Moore and Fuller have already begun planning for next year’s event. They plan on more food vendors, more teams, and possibly live music, making it an all-day Cornfest.
“We all had a meeting right after the event and wrote down ideas and goals for next year,” Moore said. “We now have a guiding document to make sure this will be successful for years to come.”
