Organizers want Kamloops cornhole tournament to become regular event

Organizers have big plans for local cornhole competition after a weekend tournament as part of a downtown music festival.

Also known as beanbag toss, cornhole is a popular backyard game played by many in the summer months. Summer League’s block party on Saturday made the game a little more competitive.

“The intention here is to get a little bit of action throughout the block party,” Jesse Faubert, an organizer of the event, told Castanet Kamloops.

“We're going to run it all night and try to get a little micro league going in Kamloops and spread it so that each of these big block parties two or three times a year we've got a major tournament.”

Many of the competitors said they were excited to finally have a competitive avenue to showcase their skills.

“Personally, it's one of my favourite backyard games,” Alex Jephcott, a competitor in Saturday's event, said.

“So I've been waiting for some kind of little tournament like this for a while.”

Faubert said cornhole is accessible for many as it doesn’t require a lot of practice to pick up.

“When you watch any of the televised cornhole [events], you can see it's a different breed of athlete — they're not exactly hitting the gym all the time,” Faubert said.

“Not to say that we don't have fit people around here, but it's definitely more of like a hand eye coordination sport, which makes it a lot more accessible to players to play.”

Sean Garvey, another competitor, said cornhole is easy to pick up and goes well with a beer.

“I hope it comes to every Summer League party," he said.

"Cornhole is such a fantastic leisure game that anybody can play and have a good time — so very enjoyable."

According to Faubert, cornhole will be a staple at future block parties and he hopes to see it the game grow locally.