Sara Stadem | Editor
The Main Street Humboldt Bar has been busy gearing up for their annual Humboldt Dart Tournament that will take place on Saturday, February 12.
According to owner Dave Derschan, this tournament has been going on for approximately 19 years, something that is done just for entertainment. “We will probably have about 90 teams and we do it just for fun, just a regular fun dart tournament,” Derschan said.
Over the course of the years, the dart tournament has continued to grow. So, in order to prepare for the big event, Derschan explained for the past three years, Jan Gordan from Montrose has assisted in organizing and setting up brackets for all the teams for the dart tournament. According to Derschan, for the tournament, the Main Street Humboldt Bar also rents out the Humboldt Community Center and Firehall in order to provide accommodations for all of the throwers.
“Between the throwers and the people that come to watch, I bet we have about 500 people in town that has come for the tournament,” Derschan said. He chuckled, “Sometimes it seems like it brings in about as much as the population of the town itself.”
Since Derschan took over the establishment, Musivend is the company Main Street Humboldt Bar uses for their dart machines for this tournament. Steve Schroeder with Musivend explained the tournament has grown over the years, and although he didn’t have the specifics right off hand, he did say the tournament would have approximately 50 dart boards this year.
He further explained they will set up the dart boards a day or two in advance as it takes quite a while to get that many boards set up and ready to go. “It’s one of our biggest bar tournaments we do,” Schroeder said.
Dart thrower Nancy Jibben of Freeman has been attending this tournament for five years or so, she said. “I go to every tournament they got,” Jibben laughed. “We are from Freeman we drive about an hour to go throw darts there.”
Jibben recalled how much the tournament has grown in the few years she has been attending. “Yes, it sure has… Well, we had to go into three buildings last year and before that it was only two buildings,” she said. “So, I would say it increased about 25% last year.”
With starting at 9 am and with so many teams, Jibben said there have been years that she hasn’t gotten home until 9 or 10 at night. “Just pull up a chair and have fun for the day,” Jibben said.
What Jibben looks forward to most with this specific tournament are meeting all new people. “I have met new people every year and it’s about having fun. It’s just so much fun,” Jibben concluded.
The winners for the tournament will walk away with trophies and jackets along with second place receiving trophies as well.
When asked what his favorite part of the day is, Derschan said, “Just watching people have fun.” He concluded, “People have a lot of fun throwing darts and it’s a great atmosphere.”
The tournament is for a team of four with registration taking place at 8:30 am and a start time of 9 am. Entry fee is $110 which includes green fees. In order to enter, teams will need to have PPD’s for Divisions with the Elite Division having no cap. If you would like to register a team, please call or text 605-360-4827 by February 9.