In Horseshoes , Field Of Competitors Gets Bigger, Better
MEN'S DOUBLES winners in the 1992 contest were Mark Walker (left) and Curtis
Eoust (center), shown with tournament coordinator Hen Tonking.
BEACON FILE PHOTOS
WOMEN'S DOUBLES honors went to Terry Bowser (left) and Jean Fletcher (right),
shown with Lou Tonking.
A record 106 men and 15
women signed up for last
.year's Festival By The Sea
horseshoe-pitching competition, an
event whose popularity increases
every year along with the skill of
the competitors.
Contest organizer Ben Tonking
hopes to add something new this
I
year ? bleachers for the growing
crowds who gather to watch the
day-long men's and women's sin
gles and doubles events.
Taking home an unprecedented
fifth women's singles champion
ship last year was Sue West of San
ford. Defending men's singles
champion is Oscar Overcash of
Concord, who played his last 12
points last year against veteran
pitcher Curtis Foust with the horse
shoe pit illuminated by car lights
after night fell on the match.
Foust was half the winning
men's doubles team, along with
past singles winner Mark Walker.
They defeated Tom Driver and
David Milliken.
Taking honors in the women's
doubles match were Terry Bowser
and Jean Fletcher, beating F.lneda
Holden and Shirley Driver, 1990
and '91 women's doubles champs.
One of two past champions who
were benched for medical reasons
last year is expected to be back in
the men's singles and doubles this
year.
At tournament time last year, it
was shoulder surgery which side
lined tournament founder Eddie
Sweatt. A broken sternum suffered
in a car wreck kept past winner
Leon Burton at home in Ker
nersville. Sweatt is expected to
compete this year, but Burton says
he still is unable to compete.
The action begins at 1 p.m. on
Saturday after the festival parade
concludes and motorists are able to
get across to the island to sign up.
Cost of entering singles or doubles
is $ 1 per erson.
Winners are awarded certificates,
ribbons and bragging rights for fin
ishing first or second place.
The horseshoe pits are along
Bruns. Ave. west of the town water
tower, across from the Holden
Beach Chapel on Rothschild Street.
The horseshoe tournament is
sponsored by Sun and Surf Con
tainers and The Brunswick Beacon.
How Fast Is Your Bopp/e? Day At Docks Will Tell You
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While you're enjoying this year's
Festival by the Sea. festival orga
nizers are looking ahead to their
next big project.
The Holden Beach Merchants
Association is already well into
planning its 1W4 Day at the Docks
Celebration, set for March 26.
New at Day at the Docks '94 will
be the Great "Bopple" Race, whose
three winners will share the $3(H)
grand prize.
Oh, you're not athletic? Not to
worry. Here's how the world's fast
est Bopple is determined:
Anyone may buy a crew member
spiit on a Bopple for one dollar.
What's a Bopple, you ask? It's an
apple with a spar installed with
three crew members' numbers writ
ten on the spar (known to landlub
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i'i ? i timgf!!r?i i.. ~
t vK_ I l -
AT HOLDEN BEACH
Only 600 ft to the ocean. 10 bedrooms and 6 baths. Ideal year
around rental income sufficient for a 15-year pay off. $175,000
with owner financing.
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hers as a piece of wood). When you
pay your buck, you receive a num
ber to be entered on a spar and in
serted into an apple.
At exactly 5 p.m. March 26, the
Bopples will be dumped from the
top of the Holden Beach bridge and
into the Intracoastal Waterway. The
first Bopple to cross the finish line
will be netted, and the three crew
mcmbeis will be co-winners. Each
will receive $1(X) plus prizes from
the Holden Beach Merchants Asso
ciation members.
As part of its promotion of the
Great Bopple Race, the merchants
association will begin selling crew
member spots during the Festival
by the Sea, when Mayor Wally
Ausley will drop a Bopple from the
bridge.
Advertising for all Day at the
Docks events will begin at the
Festival by the Sea.
For the time heing, mark your
calendar for March 26 as Holden
Beach celebrates its waterway her
itage with:
?Food by local professional ven
dors, 1 1 a.m. -5 p.m.;
? Free boat rides, 1 1 a.m. -3 p.m.
? Boat race, 4 p.m.
? Bopple Race, 5 p.m.
This year's Day at the Docks
Committee includes Gary Carr,
Gay Atkins, Richard Jones and Jim
Driggers.