A-maize-ing! WE Brewery Corn Toss Tournament

Steve ‘WE Can Do It’ Wang from WE Brewery says that last Saturday’s corn toss tourney in Tianjin–with a crazy busy slate of 62 games–raised a whopping 17,444 rmb / 174,440 mao for Maovember / The Library Project.

Wang spent the day directing teams to the two corn toss areas, whittling down the competition to the finalists, then to a winner. A thrilling finale saw team Cornhole of Glory grab a fast 10-0 lead, slowly fall behind 18-16, then pull out a 21-18 victory. Huskers do!

Meanwhile, the WE Brewery staff kept beer and food smoothly flowing throughout the event. Good times.

The donation includes rmb5500 from team signup fees and rmb2444 from a tab war, with TJ Veterans having this year’s highest bar bill.

A generous anonymous donor matched the team sign-up fees of rmb5500 while rmb4000 was raised via a silent auction for a two-night stay in an executive room, with lounge access, at Shangri-la Hotel.

This annual event is so much fun, and symbolic of Maovember, which combines fun games (corn toss) and food and drink (a tab war), with 100 percent of proceeds going to a partner that uses them for visible results — reading rooms in schools in rural China.

Thanks to Steve, Y.O. Ming, Shangri-la, the team at WE Brewery and all the people who played in this year’s tournament!

I’ll have a full gallery soon.

8th annual Maovember is on

The eight edition of Maovember, an annual month-long mission teaming restaurants, bars, vendors and consumers for fun events and good causes, is underway. Despite a tough 2020, the pieces are falling together, with classic Maovember events lined up as well as some fresh new features.

This year’s partner once again The Library Project, which has furnished reading rooms in more than 2500 schools in rural China. Here is a look at the events slate so far, with more to come.

November 2-3

Did you ever lose something on a wild and crazy night at Paddy O’Shea’s? Perhaps a scarf? A left shoe? Your luggage? Even your dignity (drum roll)?

Irish pub Paddy O’Shea’s did an annual winter cleaning of its extensive ‘lost & found’ inventory, selling off excess holdings and donating proceeds to Maovember.

November 7

Tianjin’s corniest event is on again: the WE Brewery Maovember Corn Toss Tourney hosted by owner / beer maker Steve ‘Husker Do’ Wang.

Corn toss takes two minutes to learn and delivers a lifetime of fun. And even if you aren’t on a team, you can still come out, enjoy tasty WE beer and burgers, and catch the action. Starting at 3 PM.

Check out last year’s event here.

November 8 SOLD OUT

Ladies and gentlemen, start your (dog’s) engine! Dog Pub Crawl 2020 has five stops — two more than last year. And if you don’t have a dog, you can still join, hang out with all the canines and enjoy the drinks deal.

RSVP is essential! We’ll start at 2 PM near Xindong Road and have a raffle at each bar, with gifts and surprises from CHEERS, Hulu and Kakikopi plus venue sponsors Jing-A, Paddy O’Shea’s, Pi Bar, Prodigy Brewing and XL Bar & Restaurant.

Check out last year’s event here.

November 15

Feuerzangenbowle-what!? The four-stop Maovember Mulled Wine Tour by CHEERS kicks off with this treat that sees rum-soaked sugar bread set on fire so it drips into and sweetens the wine. Good times!

The tour starts near Chaoyang Park and ends near Workers Stadium with fun games, cool prizes and piping hot mulled wine aka gluehwein at each stop. The fee is rmb88 per person, with all proceeds to The Library Project. Details soon on how to sign up.

November 27

The annual Paddy O’Shea’s Maovember party is always a blast and this year should be no different. Expect the trademark pickleback booth, but with a twist, as we’ll feature celebrity chef pickle juices. There will also be corn toss and a darts challenge, the “pay Mr DJ” option, where you can get your song aired for a donation, mustache drawing, a raffle, and more.

November 28

Malaysia becomes Mao-laysian? Expect a pair of food and wine events this day that highlights the people and cuisine of Malaysia. Details to come on this exciting project!

Donations | Maovember funds support two Hubei province schools

When the Maovember 2019 campaign wrapped up last December, we anticipated seeing our funds in action faster than ever thanks to a QR code system that allows direct donations from supporters to our partner, The Library Project. Most donations now go directly to TLP during, or even before, events. For example, the event fee when people sign up for the annual Dog Pub Crawl is a direct donation to TLP.

Unfortunately, in terms of putting the funds to use, 2020 has not been an easy year. As the coronavirus crisis spread in China in January, we asked TLP to use the funds specifically for schools at the epicenter, the province of Hubei. TLP agreed but I don’t think any of us realized how long it would take to get that money to the schools given ongoing concerns about COVID-19.

But persistence pays and, after being in contact with education officials all year, the The Library Project team finally got approval and headed to rural Hubei earlier this month to provide two schools in Badang County with new books, desks, chairs, teacher training and more. Check out the photos below, provided by Nichole He of TLP, of Maovember funds in action.

We are now preparing Maovember 2020, with annual events like the WE Brewery corn toss tourney, Paddy O’Shea’s party and Dog Pub Crawl on the slate already. Updates coming soon. If you’d like to join our WeChat group, with Maovember event and donation updates, connect with me at ‘beijingboyce.’

Thanks again to supporters of Maovember 2019 for making these library donations possible.

SumMaory | Annual Cornhole Classic at The Irish Volunteer

Call it the corniest event in town! The Irish Volunteer @ Buddy’s had its annual Charity Cornhole Contest last Saturday as 16 teams battled for the title: The ‘Stache Hawks won two official hockey jerseys from KHL team Kunlun RedStars. The top four teams also won wine donated by CHEERS and Ponty. Given a wet day following Beijing’s first snow, the event was held indoors in the IV’s long and narrow front area. A perfect fit!

Thanks to the Hockey Guys (BIIH) and Irish Volunteer for the good times–and for supporting Maovember since year one. To the RedStars, CHEERS, Steve Northcott and George Smith, among others, for tournament and silent auction prizes. And to all of the teams as well as to Jen Ambrose for bidding rmb500 for naming rights to one of them: KesselMania.

Saturday’s event raised 83,490 mao (8,390 rmb) for Maovember’s 2019 partner The Library Project. The hockey guys raised a further 43,000 mao (4,300 rmb) by selling 50:50 tickets and beer from league sponsor Boxing Cat, for a total of 126,490 mao (12,649 mao). And it was great to have Library Project founder Tom Stader attend and play in the tournament!

SumMaory | Open Mic & ‘Unofficial’ Closing Party at Paddy O’Shea’s

Paddy O’Shea’s, active in Maovember since 2013, did a doubleheader this year. Thursday featured a warm-up during the weekly open mic night — patrons could donate money to have their song played by host Chris Parry. The result was a fun (and eclectic!) playlist to say the least!

Then came the ‘unofficial’ Maovember party on Friday. Paddy O’Shea’s had a full slate of fun for this one: picklebacks, mustache drawing, a raffle, a charity darts game and even more ‘pay for play’ songs for the DJ.

Good times as usual, with Tom Stader of The Library Project joining both nights and receiving a cheque for the first 500,000 mao from this year’s campaign. All in all, the doublehader raised 48,500 mao (4,850 rmb) for Maovember.

sumMaory | Sip ‘n’ Shave at The Rooster

December 1 is a sweet time for a shave after a month full of Maovember fun. The Rooster in Shanghai got into that spirit by teaming up with Doc’s Barber Shop for a fundraiser organized by Maovember veteran Pilou.

A 100 kuai donation was worth a shave or trim plus a beer and a 2019 Maovember pin. Those who liked their faces just the way they were paid 50 kuai for a beer and pin. All funds went to The Library Project. The event, including a donation to top things off, raised a neat 20,000 mao (2,000 rmb).

Event | Sip ‘n’ Shave at The Rooster Shanghai

Shanghai friends, get into the Maovember spirit this December 1–and get a shave, too!

The Rooster will once again hold a “sip ‘n’ shave’ event to raise funds for Maovember and 2019 partner The Library Project.

Get your facial hair in order with a trim or shave by Doc’s Barber Shop, plus a beer and a Maovember pin, all for rmb100, with 100% of proceeds to Library Project.

Lack a beard / stache, or like it just the way it is? You can still get a beer and a pin for rmb50, again with all proceeds to Library Project.

That’s December 1, from 2 PM to 6 PM, at The Rooster. More details at this link.

Event: Charity Cornhole Classic at Irish Volunteer

Keeping a tradition going since the very first Maovember in 2013, The Irish Volunteer @ Buddy’s will hold yet another charity cornhole classic. This event will be hosted by the Beijing International Ice Hockey guys.

For those unfamiliar with cornhole, it takes about 30 seconds to learn and is highly addictive. It basically consists of tossing 400-gram bags of corn at a hole 8 meters away.

This year’s event will feature 16 teams of two or more people. The entry fee is rmb200 per team and includes two welcome shooters, two raffle tickets, two Maovember pins and, if you win, some sweet prizes. 100% of the fees go to The Library Project.

You can even show up early to practice–Irish Volunteer will open four hours before the tournament starts at noon.

The event will also include a raffle with dozens of prizes, cold 15-kuai Tsingtao all day long, and more. If you want to sign up or get more info, use this QR code to join the charity cornhole classic group.

Here are some photos from events past: