The Windy City Cornhole Classic this past weekend was a blast. Congratulations to all of the participants. Be sure to connect with us via Twitter in regards to the event!

BaggaPalooza 2010 is a bags tournament that will be held at the Yorkville, IL 18th Annual Hometown Days Festival at Beecher Park. Registration is now open. All proceeds benefit the Kendall County Food Pantry. Backyard Barkeep is the premier sponsor of this philanthropic event! For more information and team registration, please visit www.baggapalooza.com!

BaggaPalooza 2010
18th Annual Hometown Days Festival
Beecher Community Center
908 Game Farm Road
Yorkville, IL

12:00pm – 4:00pm – September 4, 2010

The Backyard Barkeep™ team is excited for the upcoming Windy City Cornhole Classic at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL. The Backyard Barkeep™ will be a proud sponsor this year and we are ready to see the bags fly! Be sure to follow us on Twitter for updates on this years event. For more information please visit www.chicagocornholeclassic.com.

So your backyard has a humongous, freshly stocked pond, you happen to be the creator and CEO of Backyard Barkeep (built for fun) and you wonder… “What should we do this weekend?”  Why coordinate a fishing derby of course!  Backyard Barkeep is always up for entertaining and Saturday May 1, 2010 was no exception.

We had a blast with lots of fans young and old.  The fish were biting and the Barkeeps were holding juice boxes for the kids and beers for their parents.  Kids’ prizes were rewarded for biggest fish, smallest fish, most fish caught and just for being a kid and having fun.  Here are a few of our favorite pics from this tremendous day…

The ice was cold but the Cornhole competition was hot at the 2010 American Cornhole Association’s Brew City Bags Bash at the Pettit Olympic Ice Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Once again, Backyard Barkeep™ was on hand to help competitors focus on their game by holding drinks, keys, wallets, and snacks all while keeping track of the score.  Our festive booth was definitely the place to be; even experienced metal fabricators in the crowd could not believe the extremely high quality and genius design of the Backyard Barkeep™ (and could not resist purchasing a dozen sets or so).  Check out the pictures and see for yourself why Backyard Barkeep™ is the drink stand of choice for any bash!

The Backyard Barkeep® was recently featured in the Brew Your Own, or “BYO,” magazine. Check out this issue for some great recipes, brewing ideas and more! The Backyard Barkeep® can be seen on page 9 under New Products.

A new, hilarious ad from Kingsford Charcoal is reassuring the northern parts of the world that, yes, winter is over! It’s time to get outside and soak in some Vitamin D, grill your favorite foods, and maybe even play some cornhole with your handy Backyard Barkeep®!

So, with winter slowly melting away and spring on the horizon, are you anxious to get outside and start grilling? What else do you plan on doing this summer? Tell us by posting a comment below!

Backyard Barkeep® was a proud sponsor of this year’s King of the Campground in Atlanta, Georgia, also sponsored by Scott’s Turf Builder and the American Cornhole Organization. It was a beautiful, sunny day of playing cornhole and even some kids got in on the games. As you can see there was a snazzy looking car on set, but even snazzier were the Backyard Barkeeps® that provided the guests with a place to hold their drinks, shirts, keys, and keep track of their score!

Backyard Barkeep® was a proud sponsor of this year’s Ice Hole Classic on the Turfway Race Track in Kentucky. This was a more laid-back event of friends and family getting together for some casual bags competition, but it nonetheless proved that the Backyard Barkeep® is the outdoor and indoor drink holder YOU can’t live without!

Here’s a few photos we snagged while we were at the event. Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

So, we all know the Backyard Barkeep® is the sturdy, metal drink holder YOU can’t live without. We all know that all other drink stands simply can’t compete. We also know, though, that competition is fun, especially if it’s outdoors. And, we happen to know that the Backyard Barkeep® makes outdoor competition even more fun by offering a place for you to securely hold your drink while you play cornhole…or is it bags?

When promoting the Backyard Barkeep®, our marketing team has this discussion all the time: Is the classic outdoor game in which competitors toss a bean-bag into a hole in a board known as “bags” or “cornhole”? The answer seems to depend on where you live: In the midwest, the game is referred to as “bags.” In the south where the game is said to originate, it’s more commonly referred to as “cornhole.” Still elsewhere, the terms “bag toss” or “bean bag toss” are used.

So which is it? Tell us what you think! Why do you call it “bags” instead of “cornhole,” or vice versa? Do you think where you live or grew up matters to what you call this game? Have you ever gotten in an argument with a friend over what to call it?

One thing is certain, at least: No game of “bags” or “cornhole” is complete without a set of barkeeps! Whether you’re indoors or out, on grass or pavement, and no matter what you call this classic game, a Backyard Barkeep® set is perfect for you! Order today!

Burr! It’s cold out there! We can’t wait for things to heat up so we can get outside and start using our Barkeeps again!

In the meantime, here’s an amusing photo sent from Roy Jones from Cleveland, OH. He told us he and his friends have a “winter bags” tradition, and actually enjoy playing bags/cornhole in the snow! He left his barkeep outside during a blizzard, and took this photo the following morning:

Thanks a lot, Roy! This just goes to show how sturdy these bad boys are…this stand lasted through these frigid conditions with no problems, and the score card is still perfectly usable!

Viva Las Vegas! Viva La Barkeep! Backyard Barkeep® was a proud sponsor of the ACO Nationals in Las Vegas. Like the Windy City Cornhole Classic, our stands spiced up the competition by keeping hands free from holding drinks while playing, keeping players hydrated by having drinks nearby for them, and keeping spirits high (or low!) by tracking players’ victories with the Backyard Barkeep® score card! This was a fantastic event and we couldn’t have been happier to be there!

To read about our sponsorship, please click here.

The Bean Bag Info Blog is, unsurprisingly, a blog about playing cornhole or bags. The folks who run the blog are always looking for anything that will make their gaming experience more enjoyable, so it’s also unsurprising that they recommended the Backyard Barkeep® for anyone who enjoys playing these outdoor games. Take a look at what they had to say:

“I looked at the overall quality of each scoring system. The Backyard Barkeep® has a very sturdy design, made entirely of metal, and is able to stand up on nearly any surface. One of the key advantages of this product is the removable metal base. Without the base, you can press the product into the ground by pushing on a small platform above the metal stake. For hard surfaces such as concrete, slide the stake onto the heavy metal base to keep it level and sturdy.

Backyard Barkeep® proudly sponsored the 2009 Windy City Cornhole Classic at Arlington Park, Illinois. The competition was hot but we helped guests keep their cool by providing a sturdy place to hold drinks, keys, cell phones, wallets and even lunch! Check out our photos and see firsthand why the Backyard Barkeep® is the drink holder YOU can’t live without!

Click on any thumbnail to open an image.

Backyard Barkeep is such an awesome tailgating tool that it was featured on Tailgating Ideas! Here’s a clip of what they had to say about our amazing product:

“Whether you are tailgating on grass or on asphalt, finding a safe and sturdy place to hold your drink while playing tailgating games can be a problem. No need for concern anymore. Now comes the Backyard Barkeep, a sturdy metal drink holder that holds two beverages and can be used on grass or hard ground. Designed with a pointed tip at the end that when jabbed into grass or dirt, holds the Backyard Barkeep upright. So now all you need to do is get a Backyard Barkeep and grab it, jab it and play.”

They even took a few photos of the Backyard Barkeep® on their lawn with a cornhole game set, too!

“The thing that most impressed me about the Backyard Barkeep was how sturdy it was both in grass and in the metal base. As a tailgater you definitely do not want something that is flimsy and will break easily. Also, the Backyard Barkeep is small and lightweight enough that by adding it to your regular tailgating list, you won’t have to pull something out to make room for it. Now that I have my own Backyard Barkeep I know it will be added as a regular item I pack when going tailgating.”

Be sure to visit their site for their intensive review of the Backyard Barkeep®, and pick up a few other great Tailgating Ideas while you’re there!