Franklin, MA  -  On September 13, 2026, William F. Ray Lodge #71 of Franklin held their 8th Annual Cornhole Tournament to benefit the Massachusetts Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation. It was held at the Tyngsboro Sports Center in Tyngsboro Mass. Players were given the choice of registering through the Franklin Odd Fellows website or the Scoreholio web site. Scoreholio is an application that all seasoned players have on their cellphones and it is also the software program that is used on the laptops of all cornhole tournament organizers.

This cornhole tournament fundraiser began at an indoor soccer court belonging to the Franklin Soccer Association in 2018.  The lodge then moved the venue to an outdoor site at the Bellingham Sportsman’s Club and held several tournaments there. However, attendance was not the best and the lodge then went out of the region to Tyngsboro to try for a better result.  Bro. Dave Labonte opened the tournament by speaking about how the debilitating disease of Arthritis affects 67 million Americans annually and how the Massachusetts region of Odd Fellow lodges leads the country in annual contributions to the Foundation.

The Franklin lodge was very fortunate to hire on Bro. Dave’s daughter Julie, and her husband Steve, to organize and run the tournament professionally using Scoreholio software. The results were 100% better than previous years!  The tournament was divided into two divisions; a larger Competitive Division of seasoned players and a smaller Social Division of the “backyard cornhole” class of players. The hope for next year’s tournament is to increase the size of the Social Division.  Odd Fellows who played in the tournament were: Deputy Grand Master Nancy Cyr, Grand Treasurer Greg Mullen and Past Grand Treasurer Dave Labonte. Past Grand Master Eric Fearing made an appearance as a spectator. Income from the tournament enabled the Franklin Odd Fellows to more than double last year’s donation to the Arthritis Foundation.

First Place Winners - Competitive Div are: Joanne Martin and Matt Newell.

Second Place Winners – Competitive Div are: Julie Labonte and Guangming Wang