After an absence of several years, the Elmer Kaufman Memorial Horseshoe Tournament is back.
The horseshoe pits at the Lac La Biche Agricultural Grounds will be alive with the ringing of the shoes.
Gerald Wowk with Lac La Biche Transport is back this year to help organize the tourney. Wowk ran the event every Pow Wow Days from 1984 until 2012.
“They asked me to help out this year, and it’s something we’ve had at Pow Wow for a lot of years,” said Wowk, estimating the formal tourney goes back to the late 1970s when a company called Kodiak Construction first started it up.
Kaufman, the tournament’s namesake, passed away in 2008 at the age of 69. He was a mainstay in the horseshoe pits. Pow Wow officials named the tournament after him in 2009.
Wowk expects to have quite a few entries at this year’s event that runs on Sunday from noon to 4 pm.
The change in location from the Pow Wow Grounds in McArthur Park to the Agricultural Grounds beside the Lac La Biche Agricom is because the new splash park in McArthur Park that now sits on part of the original pit area. Wowk said the new location has a great setup.
“The agriculture society has built up some very nice pits there, very professional. There should be some very good matches.”
The tournament is open to all ages. Entrants can register at the horseshoe pits from noon to 1.
Wowk said the three pits will allo upwards of 20 singles players and 10 doubles teams to wrap up in about three hours.