What can cornhole do for you? For Manatee, championship boosts economy and friendship
More than 600 competitors from 30 states packed into the Bradenton Area Convention Center over the past week for the annual American Cornhole World Championships, which wraps up on the last Saturday in July each year.
The ACO was founded in 2004 in Ohio, although cornhole has been a popular family activity for decades and is one of the fastest growing professional sports in America. During the early weeks of the pandemic last year, when major sports were sidelined, ESPN showed cornhole competitions.
The name of the sport, cornhole, stems from the beanbags that were originally filled with dry corn, not beans.
After a week of competition, championship day’s opening ceremonies started with a one-toss battle between Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown and Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant. Each mayor brought in a guest to take an opening ceremony toss as well.
Brown chose Marty, the Bradenton Marauders baseball team mascot who, being the rascal that he is, immediately tried to cheat by unsuccessfully trying to halve the distance required to toss.
Bryant’s secret guest was more attractive than Marty. Bradenton’s own Miss Florida, Leah Roddenberry, made a graceful entrance into the spotlight and made a much better toss than Bryant, who admitted she knew nothing about cornhole.
Brown, on the other hand, is an experienced cornhole player and landed his one and only toss on the board to score a ceremonial victory for Bradenton over Palmetto. The one shot drew a rowdy cheer and applause from the grandstands.
Brown said there’s something about the game that brings people together.
“You just enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship,” Brown said. “It brings people together and also to see what they can do. Also, any sporting event that’s out there that brings people together in a positive light, even though it’s a competition, is a good thing.”
As Miss Florida, Roddenberry makes a lot of appearances, but she said Saturday’s visit to the cornhole championship was an unexpected good time.
“This has definitely been the most fun by far,” Roddenberry said. “I’ve never been to something like this. It’s really exciting because I’m from Manatee County, so it’s nice to have it here in my hometown and to have the championship here.”
Roddenberry is a quick learner of the game and its fun but competitive culture.
“You can tell they are really into the game but it looks like they have a lot of fun, which is really important,” she said. “I met a young boy in the junior league so it’s cool to see them starting young. I really thought this was just a game you play outside at festivities, but I’m getting to see it really is a sport that takes a lot of skill and talent.”
The event injected about $1 million into the local economy, an important financial boost for cities amid an ongoing pandemic.
“This event coming here is another start of coming back from the pandemic,” Bryant said. “Our jobs as mayors is provide a safe and healthy environment, but also help our cities grow and be economical sound, so different sporting events like this move it in that direction.”
Bradenton Area Convention Center and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliot Falcione said the process to bring the championships to the Bradenton area began in November.
“It’s really important to bring events like this into the urban corridor during these times of the year,” Falcione said. “It also brings a lot of families, so we have 600 pro participants and many of them brought their families. They are staying five nights plus so that’s an economic impact of $1 million.”
Falcione said another major tournament is coming in January, and there are talks in having the world championships return to the Bradenton area in about three years.