The 2011 Smoking Aces Festival & BBQ Championship is taking place this weekend, September 16-17, hosted by Harrah’s Casino. The festival, which we talked about before and which benefits Porter-Leath, is billed as a celebration of some of the most important things in any man’s life: meats, motors, matches, music, malts and margaritas. Taken individually, any of those elements would make for a good weekend, but combine them and you are talking about one heck of a party. The Smoking Aces Festival will be a good time benefitting a good cause, but it’s not a fall weekend without a little healthy competition. We aren’t talking football here, we’re talking cornhole – the “matches” on the list of important m-words showcased by this event.
For the uninitiated, cornhole is a lawn game in which players take turns throwing beanbags at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. A beanbag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the platform scores 1 point. Play continues until a player reaches the score of 21 (thanks, Wikipedia). Cornhole is a game of both skill and luck, and my favorite thing about it is that it is best played with a drink in your non-throwing hand.
The sport is governed by the American Cornhole Organization, which has officially sanctioned the Smoking Aces tournament. Players will compete for more than $6,500 in prizes and a coveted spot in the ACO World Championships of Cornhole VI featuring the King of Cornhole and Queen
of Cornhole taking place at Harrah’s Tunica January 5 – 8, 2012.
Entry into the tournament is only $5 so come on down and try your luck. And maybe try some of the meats, motors, music, malts and margaritas while you’re at it.
