Name: 5th Annual Save Our River Festival
Start: 2025-09-12T18:00:00-04:00
Location: Newburyport Elks

Who's ready to celebrate 5 years???
NBPT Cornhole and the Merrimack River Watershed Council present the 5th Annual "Save Our River Festival". This year's event will once again take place under the lights at the outdoor pavilion of the Newburyport Elks on Friday September 12, beginning at 6:00 PM.
As always, this event features a giant cornhole tournament, a steinholding competition, a food truck, a cash bar, live music, educational opportunities, dozens of raffles and more. This family friendly event will be open to all ages, and will help to raise money for the Merrimack River Watershed Council (MWRC).
This year we will add a new twist to the cornhole competition! Instead of a bring your own partner style event, this year, we are going to turn this into one giant switcholio event.
For those of you not familiar with this format, it is a ton of fun! Unlike previous years, you do not need to bring a partner (but you should definitely bring all of your friends!) Each player will play four games of round robin games - each with a different randomly selected partner! It's kind of like speed dating, but with cornhole games! Once we have completed round robin play, the top 32 players will be paired up and enter into a double elimination Top Tier tournament. The rest of the players will be paired up and enter a Lower Tier double elimination tournament.
Everyone is still guaranteed 6 games, and the top teams of the top tier will receive cash prizes, while the winners of the lower tier will receive gift card prize packages. This eliminates the need to find a partner for a Friday night event, and also allows players of all skill levels to interact as we all raise money for a great cause!
The Merrimack River Watershed Council is a 501©3 non-profit organization that aims to improve and conserve the Merrimack River watershed for people and wildlife through advocacy, education, recreation, and science. MRWC was founded in 1976 when the Merrimack was one of the ten most polluted rivers in the country, and the river turned green, or red, or orange, depending on the color dye that was used in the mills that day. Today, the waters are swimmable and fishable many days of the year, but rapid development, climate change, old dams, sewage overflows, and polluted storm water runoff remain threats to the long-term future of this major water source and natural resource.
For the 4th consecutive year, this event will feature a steinholding competition, and an opportunity to challenge the reigning three-time Massachusetts state champion in steinholding, Wayne McCarthy. The event is sanctioned by the US Steinholding Association, and the top male and top female will earn a spot in the Massachusetts State Steinholding Championship. Entry to the steinholding competition is open to 24 contestants, and will be a $20 donation to the MRWC.
Stay Tuned! We have a lot more to announce regarding this tournament (including the band, the food truck, and some of the higher end raffle items!) Our goal is to make the 5th Annual Save Our River Festival the best one yet!