Bingo Play

Bingo Booth Remains Top Fundraising Event for Moose

A sure sign that an event has been around for a very long time is that its organizers cannot remember the exact date when it actually started. This can apply to the case of the Women of Moose's bingo booth located at Richland County Fair. Leota Johnson, one of the participants in the event said even she cannot remember when the bingo booth had started. She estimates that it's been around for more than 25 years.

She adds that the Moose bingo booth was originally held closer to the carnival grounds instead of its longtime location right in the middle of the food booths. The Women of the Moose Bingo booth is the only group that offers bingo to the fair visitors. The Sidney Baseball Commission is the other organization that have offered bingo many years ago before expanding its fair booth about 12 years ago.

Leota Johnson said that Sidney Baseball Commission's decision to stop holding bingo games in their booth have helped their cause but the last few years it has been realy down. One of the reasons why is the hot weather during the month of August which really makes it unbearable, especially to older people playing outside in the fierce sunlight.

To try to offset the heat, the Moose bingo booth started playing bingo at 2:00 p.m. instead of the usual 12:00 noon start. The game was moved further to 4:00 p.m. this time around. It also became harder to get volunteers for the games. So anybody who wants to, can act as the bingo caller for the bingo game. The bingo booth has become one of the biggest fundraising events in the whole fair.

Tickets for the event cost $1 dollar for eight cards and a card costs one ticket. PLayers can win tickets and keep them for the prize of their own choice. Prizes are marked according to how many tickets it takes to win it. Leota Johnson said that the Moose bingo booth now buys prizes worth $400-$500 dollars. Moose Bingo has spent close to $1,000 dolars for prizes in the past years. Example of the prizes that can be won by contestants are coffee pots and waffle irons. The Women of Moose Organization has spent several months collecting prizes for the Moose Bingo Booth.