The Orillia Cornhole Club is thriving after its first year in operation at ODAS Park.
During its opening season in the summer of 2021, the club was limited to hosting 25 players at a time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Right away, we had to expand from one night a week to two nights a week because we had 50 people sign up,” said owner Nick Bornino. “Since then, it’s just continued to grow.”
The club is now launching a youth-parent league to allow families to enjoy a fun night out. Youth from nine to 14 can participate. Players looking to try cornhole for the first time are encouraged to show up for a drop-in night on Wednesdays. The Tuesday-night summer league is a 10-week commitment that started this week. There are still openings available for all programs.
“We had a lot of players who were very new last year who are now going into competitive tournaments and getting on the podium,” Bornino said. “There are 16 of us who are going to Regina for the cornhole nationals in August.”
He says people as young as nine and as old as 85 have played with the club.
“The cool thing with this game is you can have an entire family play in the exact same league,” he said. “It’s popular because anyone can do it, it’s fairly inexpensive, and it’s a good night out.”
Cornhole is a social game, Bornino says. There have been many friendships made in the league over the past year.
The future is bright for the club, and Bornino expects its membership to grow even more in the fall.
“I think there is lots of room to grow,” he said. “My goal is to get new players out and keep growing that social level.”
The club is sponsored by Mark Goode Mortgage Man Dominion Lending Centres and Accurate Pest Control. To play, it costs $13 per person each night.
For more information about the club or to register for programming, click here. To help raise money for local players competing in Regina, click here.
