National Cherry Festival returns with 2026 cornhole tournament on West Bay
The Cherry Festival’s cornhole tournament opened July 8 at the Beer Tent, with 11 a.m. check-in and noon-to-6 p.m. play on both days.
The National Cherry Festival opened its 2026 cornhole tournament Wednesday at the Beer Tent in Traverse City, giving players a noon-to-6 p.m. window on the West Bay shoreline with check-in starting at 11 a.m. The tournament was set to run again Thursday, and the festival said entrants could play one day or both.
The two-day format gave the event a split personality that fit the festival’s pace. Serious players could stay in the draw for both July 8 and July 9, while casual attendees could drop in for a single day and still get a full tournament stop inside a packed festival calendar that runs July 4-11. The cornhole listings also showed earlier festival dates on Tuesday, July 4 and Saturday, July 5, making the bags competition part of the broader week rather than a one-off side attraction.
The festival renewed its partnership with the Michigan Cornhole League and Cornhole America, a sign that the tournament remained tied to established cornhole organizers instead of being handled as a novelty game on the festival grounds. That fit the National Cherry Festival’s larger 100th edition, which framed the Beer Tent as part of the main draw in a summer run that has long mixed live entertainment, food and waterfront traffic.
Location mattered as much as the schedule. The Beer Tent sits on the main grounds at Open Space Park on West Grand Traverse Bay, and the festival describes it as “Traverse City’s Coolest Bar on the Bay.” The tent serves beer, wine and specialty cocktails, and guests must be 21 and carry a commemorative pin, details that help explain why cornhole lands naturally there.
That setting turns the tournament into more than background entertainment. With predictable hours, an easy 11 a.m. check-in and a waterfront venue built for lingering, the Cherry Festival used cornhole as a practical way to keep people on site during peak summer tourism hours.
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