Foosball Meets Philanthropy At St. Cloud’s Grill Fest And Tournament

ST. CLOUD (WJON News)  — Foosball and food was the name of the game at an annual event in St. Cloud on Friday. Scheels Sports held its 2nd annual Human Foosball Tournament to coincide with its 4th annual Grill Fest.

The foosball tournament saw 16 teams take part to raise money for the United Way’s Kids Summer Hunger Program. Spectators were able to watch the games and get free food samples as they took in the action. Scheels Specialty Shop Manager Eli Krystosek says Grill Fest is a great way for the store to get people to try a wide array of grilling products:

“It was kind of a culmination of everybody just had a thought of how do we get everybody to see these grills in action, how do we get them to taste the seasoning and taste the sauces before they, before you buy it you always want to taste what you’re buying and in order to do that we had to get some food in front of people.”

Krystosek says they had about 15 stations showing off different grilling products as well as some other treats for purchase.

United Way’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Sam Switzer, says the tournament is based on an event the Manakato Scheels did with United Way:

“We’ve paired it with our Summer Hunger Program because we know in Central Minnesota so many kids when they’re out of school don’t have access to the food and the meals that they have in school so we’re really trying to really stock the food shelves to make sure there’s enough for the summer.”

She says pairing it with Grill Fest is a great way for United Way to get out and interact with the community as well.

Last year the Human Foosball Tournament raised about $15,000 for Kids Feed Hunger. The tournament and Grill Fest ran from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Scheels parking lot.

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