Need ideas for a festival Tournament

[gapitcher]

 :)I’ve been asked to help with a horseshoe tournament at a festival this summer, and  I need some input.   This is the first year for this festival and they have big plans---- rides, a small circus, beauty pageant, car show, arm wrestling,  pro wrestling and the horseshoe pitching tournament.  They plan to run the festival over several days.   The horseshoe tournament is scheduled for a Sunday at 1:00 pm.   The location is a rural area, and they are trying to draw from several counties around the area.   For those of you who have been involved in festival tournaments, what is the best horseshoe tournament  format?   With people coming and going, would it be best to allow participants to pitch 20 or 30 shoes and record hghest ringers?    Or, best to set up a single elimination tournament, best 2 out of 3 games, to 21 points?    Also, what is best way to attract players?    What is a decent prize money amount?    I feel the prize money will have to come from entry fees.    What is a reasonable entry fee?    Please give me your ideas.    I will definitely promote the NHPA as my part in the tournament.  Thanks.         

[2ringer6]

I usually run a double elimination Doubles Tournament with either bring your partner or a draw for partner( which keeps 2 NHPA pitchers from pairing up and blowing everyone out). Entry fee $10 per person and split the payout 1st-50%, 2nd-30% and 3rd-20%, unless the festival is trying to make money on the tournament. Play to 21 points cancellation scoring.   

[Debby M]

Play at a Festival should not last too long as they want to visit the other parts in the Festival - the double elimination is good but a couple of round robins with 20 shoe games (20 'shoes/pitcher), maybe 5 games in two or three groups, not sure how many courts you have, might also work.   In double elimination, the eliminated teams tend to lose interest and walk away.    Donate trophies for the winners, they'll like that.    Another thing to do is, as people walk by, they "pitch" a dollar and then pitch 4  or 8 shoes and count all their points, giving a prize or two or three out for the highest point winners.     We let the kids try from anywhere they can reach, letting only one pitch at a time because they might be a little wild.     We have handed out new horseshoes to the best OR just to someone's name pulled out of a hat and, if it is near an established horseshoe league and they show real interest, free membership into that league.   Good luck - you will have a long, very busy day and I hope it works out real well.    Looking forward to other suggestions.         

[Larry Collette]

      Debby brings up a very good point about the round robin over the double elimination. I usually have some new shoes available for sale like maybe a box of Americans or a couple pair of Diamond tournaments because folks are always wondering where they can get tournament shoes. The shoes I mentioned are reasonably priced to get started with and are a great way to introduce new pitchers to the sport not knowing if they are going to be pitching a flip or a turn shoe in advance. These shoes should be enough to get them interested enough to persue a more suitable shoe for their style of pitch at a later time without investing a lot of money to start with. Contact the NHPA game related sales. They can probably help you out with suggestions or handouts about their products as well.

      Another thing we do is run off copies of our charter tournament schedule, NHPA/Charter membership application (if your charter has one) and information about our local  league--day, time and contact (as Debby mentioned). We staple all this info together so that  you have packets with all the same info. When you hand it out make sure to provide you contact info so they can contact you if they have any questions about the materials you have handed them so you can assist them at a later time if required.

                                                                                      Larry Collette