Decatur Rotary makes funds, friends, at ‘The Wurst Cornhole Tournament Ever’

“We were trying to figure out what was going on,” he said.

The friends are in town from their home in Rock Falls to visit another friend who’s a student at Millikin University. They found the Rotary’s “The Wurst Cornhole Tournament Ever,” a fundraiser for Rotary’s community grant program.

Charitable organizations can apply to Rotary for grants in November, and a committee chooses the recipients. Grants are distributed in the spring, said Jess Milligan, a Rotary member who organized Saturday’s event.

Besides the cornhole tournament, there was food from Heinkel’s and Notorious BBQ, beer from Miller, Pepsi products, and live music from Pizzazz, who laughed off the heat with jokes about taking hour-long breaks. They didn’t.

Grant recipients in the past have included Dove Inc. and the Children’s Museum of Illinois.

Rotary is a service club whose members meet weekly for lunch and volunteer in the community, said member Bruce Nims.

Outlaw Baggers was one of the teams who showed up for the cornhole tournament, which had divisions for professional and amateur teams.

Cornhole, sometimes called “bags,” is the sort of game you can play in your backyard for laughs, or take more seriously, said Outlaw Baggers member Walter Grider of Maroa. It’s suitable for any age and ability, can be played indoors or outdoors, and appeals to a wide variety of players.

“Anybody can play bags, cornhole,” Grider said. “I’ve seen 5-year-olds playing to 80-, 90-year-old men and women playing. A lot of people get together, and like this, it’s for a benefit to help out a good cause. When there’s benefits to help cancer patients, or veterans, or anything you can hold a benefit for, this helps bring in a little extra money.”

Small bags of sand are tossed toward a slanted game board with a hole in it, with teams of two competing against each other. The standard board is 2 feet by 4 feet, with the hole 9 inches from the top of the board. In tournaments, the boards are 27 feet apart, measuring from front edge to front edge, but in casual games or games with players who are very young or have physical impairments, the boards can be moved closer together.

Bags are 6 inches by 6 inches and weigh 1 pound each and are tossed underhand. If the bag goes through the hole, it’s worth three points, and if it lands on the board and stays there, it’s worth one point. First team to 21 points wins the round.

The heat may have kept some people away, but Rotary members were also there to raise awareness of their activities.

“I think what we like to do is have an event in the public, so people get to know the Rotary Club,” said Nims. “Probably we’re ‘friend-raising’ more than we’re fundraising.”