Recently, my wife Pat and I spent a Saturday afternoon volunteering at the first Corn Stock corn hole tournament held in Shawnee.
It was for a good cause, we believed.
It was a fundraiser for the annual Cops n’ Kids event that is scheduled for Aug. 28 at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center.
From what we observed, this corn hole tournament turned out to be a success. Much if not most of that can be attributed to Cpl. Vivian Lozano and our good friends Charlotte Barnett and her crew from the Ford Insurance Agency that had agreed to be the title sponsor.
It was Charlotte who had visited with Pat about our volunteering. Actually, Charlotte and Vivian put on a program at the Shawnee Rotary Club about the event.
I’ve played the corn hole game a few times just kind of messing around. But from what I observed that Saturday, being volunteers was the best role for us.
There were some players that weren’t very good, there were others who were average to mediocre and then there were those who were really good.
My main job for a while that afternoon was sitting in a chair, partially in the shade of a small tree, selling bottled water that was iced down in two coolers to thirsty people.
Even though it was pretty toasty that afternoon and the buildings were sort of blocking the slight south breeze, it still was fun just watching some of the participants compete against one another.
After about an hour of selling several bottles of water, I began to notice there were more people who were thirstier for a beverage other than water. I figured out pretty quickly I wasn’t likely to run out of water that afternoon.
Whoever was selling the beer looked like they must have been selling a bunch of it. But, I don’t blame those who were indulging.
I did mention later that for next year’s event less water could be purchased and that still would be sufficient.
But I also noticed that no one who was drinking beer got out of hand. After all, this was a family event.
It was good to see as many participants as there were competing in the tournament and as many families downtown enjoying some of the other activities that afternoon. I was told 80 teams competed that day.
That evening, after all was finished and done, three of us couples who are good friends went out and enjoyed a nice dinner. It capped off a great afternoon of volunteering.