Cabin Fever tournament sets Guinness World Record

Participants of the 10th and final Cabin Fever Bean Bag Tournament were right on target Saturday as they came together to set a world record.

At about 3 p.m., Mike Marcotte, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records, announced to the crowd gathered at the Rochester Event Center that with 192 teams — and 384 players total — the event had achieved the record for largest cornhole tournament.

The previous record had been held at a charity event in Roanoke, Virginia. Prior to Saturday’s event, the previous record holder, Toby Smith of the Star City Cornhole Tournament, reached out to Cabin Fever organizers to wish them luck — noting that “records are made to be broken.”

“I was looking through your [tournament] website,” said Smith, “and it looks like you guys use this event each year to do a lot of good for people in the community, and that’s what hosting these huge events is all about!”

Organizers say it will take some time to tally how much money was raised this weekend. In the previous 9 years, the Cabin Fever tournament raised more than $450,000 for the Eagles Cancer Telethon, which supports cancer research at Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota and The Hormel Institute.

The tournament, which started with a group of friends, continued to grow over the past decade. Each year, in addition to the bag tossing, they also offered a platform for cancer fighters and survivors to share stories.

You can learn more about their work on the Cabin Fever website.

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Cover photo: Submitted / Committee Chair Steve Gage with the plaque