Cornhole takes a bite into bocce popularity

YOUNGSTOWN — Long summer days and warm nights allow more time for recreation, especially of the outdoor type.

This summer, traditional games such as bocce and wiffle ball are taking a back seat to new games, like cornhole. Bocce, which has a strong Mahoning Valley history, is still holding on as a favorite, but this new game gives it some healthy competition.

Players still agree it’s not always about which game they are playing, but who they are playing with.

“That’s game,” said a participant in a Boardman bar’s bocce league last week, as her team lost its second game in a row.

Abby Cook, of Girard,started her bocce career this summer and chose Salty Grog’s Bar and Grill for her rookie season.

She didn’t know how good the team would be, but was aware this league was pretty casual in comparison to some other ones around the city. With only two games left in the season, her team is hoping to finish at an even 500, but Cook said she’s not that upset about the team’s record.

“I decided to join the league because it was a way to have fun during the week and hang out with my friends after work,” she said.

Cook does not see cornhole as “just another trend,” but at the same time she doesn’t see it as having any real impact on bocce’s popularity — at least in Youngstown. “Cornhole will keep going, but bocce will never die because there are so many Italians in this area and the game is a predominately Italian sport,” she said.