LEWISTON — There was some sympathy in Zach Donahue’s expression when he came to deliver the news, but there was no real surprise there. 

“The consensus of the people,” said the co-owner of Sliders Sports Pub. “Is that nobody wants to talk about it.” 

It was a Wednesday night at the East Avenue pub and dozens were playing cornhole. Everyone there was vividly aware that the one-year mark of last year’s shooting was coming up, Donahue said. 

Of course they’re aware — a few of the players were injured in the Oct. 25, 2023, attack when bullets flew at Schemengees Bar & Grille a few miles away. Many of the others regularly playing cornhole at Sliders now are refugees from Schemengees, which never opened after the attack. 

“Actually, I’d say the majority of the people here tonight are from Schemengees,” Donahue said.  

In the aftermath of the shootings last year, a lot of the victims sat for news reporters and gave their accounts. Stories of tragedy, heroism and horror were all over the place back then when everything was fresh. 

But now a full year has come and gone. At Sliders, the players might talk about that grim night now and then, but they tend to do it in private circles. This band of cornhole players like to keep things to the inner circle. 

Mostly, the approach of Oct. 25 is an unspoken thing, Donahue said. These men and women are here to play cornhole, not to relive the past. 

“Nobody really talks about it, but you get the sense that it’s there,” Donahue said. “It’s in the air and everybody is feeling it. They know it’s coming up, but it’s not something that’s talked about as much.” 

So when Donahue went from team to team, asking who wanted to go before the news team this time around, he wasn’t real surprised when nobody bit. The players had decided, as a group, to sit this one out.  

On Oct. 25, 2023, a gunman spent one minute, 18 seconds firing rounds inside Schemengees in the area where cornhole was being played. By the time it was over, 10 people were dead and 10 others wounded in the attack. 

When Schemengees co-owner Kathy Lebel announced that she wouldn’t reopen the Lincoln Street business, many of her former customers quietly moved over to Sliders, which had opened for business in late summer of 2023. 

And while there wasn’t a lot of chatter about the coming date, Donahue says the business will mark Oct. 25 with a cornhole tournament. All proceeds from the Friday night event will go to the Resiliency Center, which provides support and resources to those impacted by the shootings.

This is how the regular cornhole players have chosen to express themselves; not by standing in front of news cameras but buy hurling bags at the boards and raising money for those who need it in the aftermath of that bloody night.

“Today we will be throwing bags, not for a first place cash prize or to insert our dominance onto fellow cornhole friends, no,” according to the event description. “Today, we will be throwing bags to celebrate — celebrate the resilience we have had over the last 365 days. Celebrate the 18 friends and family members that we lost but have not forgotten.”

Find out more about the tournament at the Sliders Facebook page at facebook.com/@slidersme