In the bag: Iowa State Fair cornhole event sets world mark for largest tournament

DES MOINES, Iowa — A world record was in the bag for Iowa cornhole fans.

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On Saturday at the Iowa State Fair, 730 people lined up with bean bags ready to compete, the Des Moines Register reported. That smashed the current Guinness World Record for the largest bags, or cornhole, tournament.

According to Guinness, the current mark for the largest cornhole tournament is 444 participants, set in San Diego on June 13, 2019.

Guinness will need to verify the Iowa participation numbers before certifying it as a new world record. According to a news release from the fair, a Guinness representative was in attendance for the record-breaking tournament. WHO-TV identified the official as Guinness Book of Records Adjudicator Claire Elise-Stephens.

“Just to put us in the literally hallowed halls of the Guinness Book is pretty exciting,” cornhole tournament organizer Jared Hassman told the television station.

The team of Scott Strasburger and Chris Gehrls of Cedar Rapids won the doubles event, according to the fair’s news release.

On its Facebook page, the fair congratulated the winners of the tournament and the event’s participants.

“We’re so proud!” the post read.

Joe Desaulniers, of Des Moines, said the record should make Iowans proud.

“Hey, being part of a world record that sounds like fun,” Desaulniers told WHO. “It just feels like a record that should be set at the Iowa State Fair doesn’t it? California doesn’t make sense. It has to be an Iowa record.”

The initial registration numbers had 512 participants, which still would have topped the previous mark, according to the television station.

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