The annual horseshoe tournament at Sandy Beach Regional Park brought residents and competitors together Sept. 6 for a community tradition that continues to grow.
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For longtime Sandy Beach resident Wayne King, the tournament has been a staple for decades. King organized the event for about 30 years before stepping back last year.
This year, Ryan Hill and his wife, Charlene, took over general management of the tournament, with King continuing to lend a hand.
“I’m still here,” King said. “I got the pits all in place, and you can’t stop. When you’ve done this for so many years, and I enjoy it, and it’s a great social event.”
King said the tournament has developed a reputation beyond the local area, attracting players from across the region. He pointed to one competitor from Cold Lake who told him the Sandy Beach event is among the best he attends all year.
“He travels all over doing horseshoes,” King said. “He said this is one of the best tournaments that he gets year after year after year.”
The event’s growth is particularly meaningful to King because of the work involved in preserving the horseshoe pits. About seven or eight years ago, King said the pits had deteriorated to the point where they were in danger of being abandoned. Rather than see the facility disappear, he decided to rebuild it himself.
“I took it upon myself,” he said. “Horseshoes is one of the few games that kids and teenagers, girls and boys, men and women, seniors, could all play cooperatively.”
King rebuilt the pits, helping ensure the tournament could continue and the facility remained available to the community.
“It’s just a great memory for me to say that if I wouldn’t have stepped in here, this wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
That inclusivity remains one of the tournament’s biggest strengths, King said, with players of all ages and skill levels taking part.
“You got senior men and you got the young kids, and they’re all out here playing,” he said.
With another tournament in the books, the event continues to give Sandy Beach residents a chance to gather, compete and socialize as summer winds down. For King, even after stepping away from his longtime role as organizer, the tournament remains a tradition worth supporting.
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