History
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The Bushner’s Annual Spring Ringer was established in April 2013 as an official American event for 16 men to get together and compete in a blind draw, double elimination, doubles horseshoe pitching tournament. The idea was to get together for a great day of competition, fellowship, fantastic food and drinks. It has since grown each year from 16 players to now 40 players. On the morning of the tournament they draw numbered poker chips to decide the random 2-man teams for the day. The pledge of allegiance is presented by the AMVETS . The national anthem is sung live to kick off the event.
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Within the invitation only event the participants pay an entry fee and bring a side dish or snack to share. With their entry fee they receive tournament favors such as hats, random prizes, plenty of food, and live music. The event begins at 7:30am with sign-in and breakfast. The competition continues all day long until the champions are crowned. The live music concludes at 11pm.
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Founder Doug Bushner’s vision has always been to make this a charitable event. In 2015, cash was collected for Lake Royale resident Sandra Gattini, after her house burned down just days before the tournament.
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As of 2016, a partnership began with the AMVETS Post 201 and Golden Corral (Wake Forest, NC location with Travis Strickland) to fundraise and benefit Golden Corral’s “Camp Corral” Program. Camp Corral began in 2011 and is a free one of a kind summer camp for children of wounded, disabled, or fallen military members. These two charitable organizations were chosen so we could help both the veterans and the children at the same time. The goal was to serve those who have already served for us.
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The annual fundraiser includes gathering cash donations, t-shirt sales, and a 50/50 raffle that is held the day of the event. In 2016, with efforts of people locally and all across the country, we raised $6,300. Then, we were fortunate enough to get in touch with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization who runs a scholarship fund called “Just Be Kids”. They matched our proceeds so we were actually able to donate $12,600 to Camp Corral. In 2017, we raised the bar and were able to raise $11,100 that was again matched by the DAV for a total of $22,200. This provided the opportunity to send 37 military children to Camp Corral for a week of a lifetime. 2018 was a banner year. We raised $16,709.00, exceeding our goal of $15,000.00. Between 2019 to 2021, and COVID we were able to continue to collect donations. Each year we were able provide a week long Camp Corral experience for approximately 40 kids. We did better in 2022. Donations were over $23,000 and 59 kids spent a week at Camp Corral. Our 2023 numbers were amazing. We were down a little from last year but still raised a whopping $20,647 in donations. Please consider donating. We are all volunteers so 100% of your donation goes to the kids. We accept all donations as little as $1.
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If you would like to become a corporate sponsor, we have four levels of sponsorship:
Platinum $1000+ (Display company banner, primary scoreboard recognition & in all participant handouts)
Gold $500 (Primary scoreboard recognition & in all participant handouts)
Silver $250 (Secondary scoreboard recognition & in all participant handouts)
Bronze $100 (Printed recognition in all participant handouts)
Douglas J. Bushner
Founder & Chairman
Bushner’s Spring Ringer
Cell: (919) 495-1322
307 Lake Royale
Louisburg, NC 27549