Jan Schultz | For The Imperial Republican
Marcie Kelley, left, and Leann Weiss sported eye-catching bingo shirts when they played Thursday. The shirts say “It’s all fun and games until someone yells Bingo.”
Jan Schultz | For The Imperial Republican
Tim and Terri Leibbrandt helped grandson Nolan Hughes fill his bingo card during a game Thursday at the Chase County Fair.
Imperial Lions bingo finishes another good year…
While the 100-degree temperatures at this year’s Chase County Fair likely affected some afternoon attendance, the Imperial Lions Club is again reporting a successful four days of bingo.
Club treasurer Miles Colson said $12,288 was taken in during 42 hours of bingo games played Aug. 16-19. That is about 6.5% below last year’s second best ever gross take of $13,147. The club’s best year on record remains in 2013 when $13,183 in bingo gross dollars were recorded.
In all, 634 bingo games were played over the four-day run, Colson said. Wednesday recorded 134 games, Thursday 138, 175 on Friday with Saturday games hitting 187. There were a total of 53,154 cards played during the week and the final game played Saturday night had the highest single game numbers over the four days with 275 cards out.
Lions President Randy Hayes said the club could not operate its bingo stand at fair each year without help from the community. While Lions members are encouraged to work at least two shifts each year, that alone would not fill all the slots.
“That’s where the community comes in. We have many non-Lions who help fill the 102 shifts throughout the week,” he said.
Members of the Grant and Wallace Lions Clubs also helped Imperial fill several slots during the busy 7-10 p.m. shifts on Friday and Saturday.
Club treasurer Colson said, after expenses, the club expects to realize a profit of around $7,000 this year, funds they can spend on its community service projects. One of the club’s big projects this year was funding one of the new dugouts at Campbell Park ahead of the state baseball tournament.
The Imperial Lions also fund and coordinate the annual Easter Egg Hunt, purchase eyeglasses for children in need, provide and maintain picnic tables in the parks, fund an annual $1,000 senior scholarship at Chase County Schools, place flags downtown for holidays and special events, are an annual $1,000 annual bronze sponsor of the Chase County Fair and more.
All bingo workers will be thanked with an appreciation supper in September.