Vent your holiday frustration. Throw a hatchet.
Are you looking for a good way to relieve holiday stress? Have you tried transcendental meditation? Have you tried listening to soothing music? Have you tried throwing a hatchet? If you visit Stumpy's Hatchet House in Eatontown, New Jersey, you can participate in the time-honored recreational sport of hatchet throwing, an activity that can be traced back to both Viking and Native American cultures.
According to Maria Carter for Popular Mechanics: "The facility, which opened earlier this year, has seen an uptick in business over the past two months, and weekends in December are almost completely booked with holiday events. Putting your phone down and doing something primitive is a big part of the draw, co-owner Stuart Josberger tells CountryLiving.com. "Once you start landing it, it becomes an adrenaline rush. You're competing with friends and playing games. It's addicting," he says.
Guests pay $40 each for a two-hour throwing session, which includes safety training and instruction from a coach. In the throwing pit, people take turns hurling the hatchet, rotating among the members in their party. The goal is to have everyone throwing smoothly and hitting the target by the time they leave, says Josberger."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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