NHPA world tournament visitors enjoying Wichita Falls

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (TNN) - The National Horseshoe Pitchers Association World Tournament continues at the MPEC this week.

971 athletes from around the world were registered and most of them are making it a vacation.

“It’s warm weather, its beautiful,” said Jarrett Keith about Wichita Falls. Keith is coming from Kentucky.

Others like Roger Vogel, an NHPA member, and a competitor have gotten the opportunity to enjoy local restaurants.

“For home cooking, we like Pioneer and CrawDaddy’s. It’s a new restaurant in town and I’ve been there several times,” said Vogel.

Most of these competitors have never been to Wichita Falls or even set foot in the lone star state, so the CVB is hoping to make it a memorable experience.

“We had the trolley going every day last week for free, it was complimentary,” said Lindsay Barker, the CVB director. “They could go downtown and eat or go shop. Then we had a wine tour, a casino tour, and a concert one night.”

The athletes have been encouraged to explore Wichita Falls these past few days and we’re told our community has helped at making them feel welcome.

"We had one gentleman who went to eat at one of our local restaurants and he said he struck up a conversation there with another patriot. He was telling him why he was in town and that person bought his lunch," said Barker.

“The town has been great. We’ve had no problems and it’s been running smooth, very smooth and I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Stuart Sipma, the NHPA President.

The tournament is two weeks long because there are multiple divisions for all competitor levels and age groups.

The championships will take place at the Kay Yeager Coliseum Thursday through Saturday. The public is welcome to attend for free.

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