Festive Fun at Florence After Five

Friday marked the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but in Florence another game was getting under way: the inaugural cornhole tournament at Florence After Five.

The monthly street party held on the last Friday of every month brought more than 800 people to Dargan Street and also 28 two-player teams to compete in the cornhole tournament for a $500 prize.

Dark clouds and a passing thunderstorm threatened to rain on the fun, but the only precipitation that fell from the sky was from the misting fans. While some distant lighting bolts brought thunder, it wasn’t enough to stop folks from dancing, drinking, eating, donating school supplies to the United Way Stuff the Bus event or the bean bag throwing competitors.

For Darlene Buchanan, recreation manger of the Florence City Parks and Beautification, the turnout for the tournament was great to see.

“We wanted to do an event in conjunction with Florence After Five and cornhole is such a big thing right now we thought it’d be great to do this,” Buchanan said. “We’ve gotten such good comments about it that we’re going to do this again.”

On the green space between the Kimbrell’s Building and the new Florence County Museum site twenty teams lined up and played a double elimination tournament. The teams of two play other teams of two, with one player from each team on opposite boards. Players alternate throwing four bean bags each with the goal of either getting one on the board for a point or in the hole in the wooden board for three points. If both teams manage to score in a round points can cancel each other out as they play to 21.

Ray Reich, downtown development manager, said events like the tournament are helping grow the monthly event.

“We’ve seen our biggest crowds ever this year,” Reich said as the Charlotte band Too Much Sylvia blared in the background. “The beauty is as things like the hotel, the restaurant, and the museum gets built all these things are going to grow this event and will be ever more of a reason for people to come downtown every month, or maybe twice a month or weekly as we grow.”

This article originally appeared on SCNow.com.