BELLE FOURCHE—An afternoon of coming together for good food, competitive cornhole and time with friends and family, all while supporting a good cause, was the backdrop for the 3rd annual Belle Silver Lining Cornhole Tournament on August 29.
Once again, the benefit was hosted at the outdoor horseshoe court at the Moose Lodge. Supporters who didn’t play in the tournament brought lawn chairs and cheered on the players. Not as many teams showed up as they would have liked, but those that did show up had a good time.
The Moose Lodge sold a sloppy Joe plate with beans, pasta salad and dessert for $10 and offered drinks for purchase to anyone who was thirsty.
The cornhole event is a fundraiser for Belle Silver Lining. Coming up with new ideas to raise money for the nonprofit while engaging public interest takes some planning. “Mary Riley and a good friend of hers, Steve Parker—Steve Parker throws a lot of the bags, and so he presented the idea to us about doing a cornhole tournament,” shared Marilyn Huston-Engle, Board President.
Brad Kirksey, owner of BK Cornhole, and Steve Parker were in charge of putting the event together and running the tournament. Kirksey is from the Belle Fourche area and doing events like this for his community is important to him. “I do this for—I just did one for the soccer team, for the Belle Fourche soccer team—I put that on for them, and then organizations like this that you know, want to do a benefit, they can reach out and I do for free,” explained Kirksey. “It’s a way I can give back to the community.”
The format of the tournament was bring-your-own-partner teams with double elimination. Cornhole is a game anyone can play.
In addition to the tournament, Belle Silver Lining held a 50/50 drawing, gave door prizes and sold tickets to a gun raffle. The winner will be drawn on September 14. There is still time to purchase tickets for a chance to win a Glock 19 Glitter handgun in Zombie Green. Tickets are $10 each or three for $25, and they can be purchased at Belle Silver Lining.
Sponsors for the event were VFW, Cowboys TOO!, Wareing Motors, Grossenburg Implement, New York Life, Hills Interior and Sysco.
Coming up at Belle Silver Lining on September 17 is a CALM Clinical Workshop. According to the flyer, the training is designed to help professionals in mental health, medical and human service fields counsel individuals and their families about temporarily reducing access to firearms and dangerous medications during times of heightened suicide risk.
On September 18, Belle Silver Lining is hosting a Portrait Party. CSnow Imagery will be taking portraits—families and groups are welcome to come. Every Friday morning at the center, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., the public is invited to enjoy Caramel Rolls and Coffee.
Always looking for ways to raise funds, Belle Silver Lining already has plans for their next fundraiser. Mark your calendar for their annual Spaghetti Feed at the Moose Lodge on October 10.
As always, if you are interested in getting involved with the community, Belle Silver Lining is looking for volunteers!
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