Record crowd, record funds raised at Turkey Bingo

A crowd of more than 290 at Saturday night's Turkey Bingo and an additional 100 at the afternoon session brought in more money than ever for Carson Valley children's programs, said Gary Weidner of the Carson Valley Kiwanis Club.

"We made $3,300," said Weidner. "That's the most we've ever done."

Two grand prize DVD players were given away at the two sessions, but with the record number of participants attending the evening bingo games, five people at once yelled "bingo" to claim the prize. To solve this predicament, five playing cards were drawn by the winners. The person with the highest card got the DVD player, and Kiwanis unexpectedly had to buy four more turkeys for the other winners, bringing the total number of turkeys given away to 63.

For the first time Weidner could remember, he had to close the doors Saturday night because the room capacity at the CVIC Hall in Minden had been reached.

"We thank everybody for attending," he said. "We're sorry we had to turn people away. Next year we recommend people attend the afternoon session."