HORSESHOES: Danville Horseshoe Open continues on

Nairavoice | Jun 27, 2026 1h ago 53 0 3 min read

HORSESHOES: Danville Horseshoe Open continues on

DANVILLE — For the past 35 years, the Danville Open Horseshoe Tournament has seen the best ringers in the nation come to the Douglas Park.

While the tournament has taken a hit in attendance recently, the 36th edition of the event will be filled with great competition.

“We are not as big as we used to be,” Danville Horseshoe Club President Leo Bratland said. “We used to have a great sponsor that we don’t have anymore and we used to get a lot more entries from a lot more states. We are still around even though the numbers are smaller nationally and a little bit smaller here.”

But among the numbers today are some of the biggest names in the Midwest , like current Men’s World Champion Alan Francis of Defiance, Ohio, current Women’s World Champion Jennifer Gegg of Ste Genevieve, Mo., and Illinois Men’s Champion Austin Bailey of Springfield.

According to Bratland, Bailey was the main reason those top pitchers returned to Douglas Park.

“This year, we have had great support to get some of the top players from a four state area of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio,” Bratland said. “That is the result of Austin Bailey doing some recruiting. He is the Illinois Men’s Champions and is a national officer (of the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association). He goes to the bigger events and he is friends with all these people and he put out the word to come over to Danville.

“He is from Springfield and he talked to a lot of people to come and he even got players who are not on the level of the top people who want to play the top ones. They entered just for the chance to do that.”

Bratland has continued to have weekly matches at the horseshoe complex during the summer and while numbers are down, he says things are looking up for the future.

“The numbers may be down because of health issues with some people, but they should be back next year,” Bratland said. “We have 10 people in the tournament and we are glad of that. We are holding our own as far as membership. We dipped a little but we are still going and the people know that we run a good tournament.”

The club’s history of hosting tournaments have helped them clinch tournaments that

“We are hosting the state tournament next year and it is the seventh time since 2001,” Bratland said. “So people know that we have good courts and good facilities and the park is ideal for pitchers with the pavilion there so they like coming to Danville.”

The event will start at 9 a.m. today with the lower classes and the championship classes will start at 1 p.m.

Spectators are welcome and no admission will be charged. Concessions will be available at courtside.

Danville Horseshoe League

June 24 results

Team W L

Stormy Oaks 14 7

Motors Gang 13 8

Shoe Guys 12.5 11.5

Taxi 10 11

Bucking Broncos 9.5 11.5

MiCasa SuCasa 8 13

High 50-Shoe Games