Cornhole fundraiser to honor Rodney Anderson

The Long Island Farm Bureau will host a cornhole tournament fundraiser in honor of Aquebogue farmer Rodney Anderson, who died last year at 51, at Borghese Vineyard in Cutchogue Tuesday, Aug. 1, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The event will see up to 100 preregistered teams play the popular backyard pastime in a head-to-head single-elimination-style competition. Teams and spectators can enjoy the vineyard’s offerings, as well as catered food courtesy of Ammirati’s in Mattituck.

Mr. Anderson, who operated his family’s Anderson’s Farm Stand along Old Country Road in Riverhead and owned his own business, Nomad Nurseries, died last year at East End Hospice’s Kanas Center for Hospice Care.

Event proceeds will help fund the farm bureau’s Young Farmers program, which Mr. Anderson championed. The initiative facilitates networking among farmers between ages 18 and 35, informs them about the bureau’s advocacy efforts and offers financial assistance for them to attend conferences and seminars to learn more about all facets of the agriculture industry.

“Rodney, when he was young, became engaged in the Young Farmers program,” said Rob Carpenter, administrative director of the Long Island Farm Bureau. “He believed it was an excellent opportunity for him to develop his skills as a leader in both the [agriculture] community and the Farm Bureau. Once Rodney basically aged out … he worked to help foster the next generation of young farmers and became an adviser to younger people of his generation to encourage them and support them in whatever way he could.”

Juan Micieli-Martinez, a North Fork winemaker and current president of the Long Island Farm Bureau, remembers Mr. Anderson as a row farmer who gelled well in any agricultural crowd.

“I remember him telling me one time, ‘For a grape guy, I like you a lot,’ ” the winemaker recalled.

“He was kind of one of those guys that when he walked into a room, he was gonna walk out of the room with pretty much everybody knowing who he was,” he added. “He was rather gregarious, rather outgoing.”

Tickets for the rain-or-shine event are available through lifb.com. Tickets for a two-person team are $125 and spectator tickets are $30. Children under 12 accompanied by a ticketed adult will be granted entry for free. 

“I think it’s gonna be a fun kind of light atmosphere, a celebration of life,” Mr. Micieli-Martinez said. “I think the thing that’s best about cornhole is that it’s really a kind of a low barrier to entry, something that all ages and skill levels can play and can have a fun competitive game together.”