PEORIA, Ill. — One of the biggest basketball events for the River City is right around the coroner.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the IHSA March Madness Tournament in Peoria.
General Manager of the Peoria Civic Center, Rik Egdar, said the tournament is a great way to showcase the city.
“We stop being Peoria and we start being the home of the IHSA basketball state tournament starting this weekend,” Edgar said. “So, it’s pretty much everything that happens in the downtown is reflected by the tournament.”
March Madness runs for two weekends with March 13-14 as the 1A and 2A tournament, then March 20-21 is the 3A and 4A tournament at Carver Arena.
Also returning with the tournaments is the March Madness Experience.
Edgar said the March Madness Experience is something that really stands out from other state tournaments.
“You get to come in and you get to play like the athletes on the floor. There’s full court basketball, there’s a forty foot goal, there is connect four where you play against other folks,” Edgar said. “Basically if it has a basketball and you’ve wanted to do it, you get to do it at March Madness.”
Edgar said it has been exciting partnering with IHSA basketball for 25 years.
“And, we’re even more excited about the opportunity of growing the tournament to include the girls next year. So, we’re really hoping the 26th year will be our biggest and best,” Edgar said.
