DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — A usual Saturday at Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar in Sturgeon Bay sees neighbors playing pool and bowling.
But on Saturday afternoon, they also watched an arm wrestling tournament.
"Everybody has trivia, everybody has bingo," Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar manager Andrea Felts said. "There's always something similar. So, we like to different stuff here."
Felts helped bring the tournament, run by Wisconsin Arm Wrestling, to the establishment last January.
That event came with good surprises.
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"Little two-year-olds (were) arm wrestling," Felts said. "I was like 'what?' It was cool, and I was like 'yeah, we need to book this again.'"
Saturday afternoon's encore also saw athletes of all ages testing their strength.
That mix is what Wisconsin Arm Wrestling president Leander Bonnett likes about these tournaments.
"It's the camaraderie," he said. "We're very family orientated. We want the kids involved, parents involved, grandparents involved. It's a good, clean sport."
Bonnett says the sport's participants have tripled over the past 10 years. He says over 300 people competed at the Wisconsin State Arm Wrestling Expo in Oshkosh back in May.
"For Wisconsin, that's an amazing tournament," Bonnett said about that event's participation.
For Bonnett, the growth of the sport goes beyond the numbers.
"The guys really get a lot of training out of it and new friends," Bonnett said. "It's a special thing."
Bonnett says that Wisconsin Arm Wrestling is set to have four tournaments at Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar next year, with the first one being in January.
