First Ever Third Annual

Legend has it that Cape Girardeau, MO founder Louis Lorimier played the very first round of golf west of the Mississippi River in 1803 with Merriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame in what is now downtown Cape Girardeau. Not only was Lewis a famous explorer but obviously a burgeoning golfer also, winning the match by six strokes!

For years the local newspaper editor Joe Sullivan dreamed of and wrote about dreaming of hitting golf balls from the Courthouse terraces and into the Mississippi River, some three blocks away. The more that he wrote about his dream, the more that others started to buy into his dream of the Cape Girardeau Open. And, the legend of that first Cape Girardeau golf match with it.

This next Sunday, June 22nd, Cape Girardeau will hold the First Ever Third Annual Louis J. Lorimier Memorial World Famous Downtown Golf Tournament and All You Can Eat Catfish Buffet in the downtown area on two specially created nine hole courses through the streets and up and down the Courthouse Park terraces. And, you can’t get any closer to the river than the picturesque sixth hole which runs on the river side of the levee.

Cape Girardeau’s motto of a town where the “River Turns a Thousand Tales” is surely reaching new heights with this newest golf tournament. What historic event can you convert into a tourist attraction for your town?