SLAM T1D Summer Classic draws 32 teams, tops $2 million raised

A 32-team field packed Little Fenway in Essex, Vermont, for SLAM T1D’s 15th annual Summer Classic, and the event’s total fundraising climbed past $2 million over the tournament’s 15-year run. Teams came from around the Northeast and beyond, a turnout that showed how firmly the wiffle ball weekend has taken hold as a regional stop.

The draw has become bigger than a single bracket. Little Fenway, where the annual Vermont Summer Classic has been held since 2011, gives the event a familiar baseball-style setting that fits the sport and helps make the weekend feel like a destination. SLAM T1D bought the ballpark in 2023, and its own materials say the organization now calls Little Fenway home for the good it does in the world.

That setting has helped SLAM T1D build an event with a clear purpose. The organization says it supports children, adults and families battling Type 1 diabetes, and describes the tournament as a way to bring together thousands of supporters and connect people with resources that lessen the burdens of the disease. The group also says it is teaming up with Blue Circle Health to bring free Type 1 diabetes care, extending the mission beyond the field at Little Fenway.

The fundraising growth has been steady enough to mark the tournament as one of the most established charity events on the wiffle ball calendar. WCAX reported that the 12th annual Vermont Summer Classic raised more than $300,000 in 2023 and that the event brought in more than $510,000 in 2025. By 2026, the Summer Classic’s 15-year total had moved past $2 million, a figure that reflects both the size of the field and the loyalty of the teams that keep coming back.

SLAM T1D promotes the event with the line, “WIFFLE BALL LIKE NO WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD!” On a crowded August weekend at Little Fenway, that claim matched the scene: a tournament built on competition, nostalgia and a fundraising mission that has turned a local ballpark into a lasting institution.