Get out the blotters and good luck trolls, bingo is back in the valley.
Bingo is a fun night out, a chance to win a little bit of a nest egg, and a great way to support community associations.
The Midland Community Association reintroduced its weekly bingo night in August. Treasurer Connie Campbell says their usual group has returned to the Thursday night game.
“The numbers are about on par with what they were before,” she said.
She said bingo and hall rentals are the main funding routes for the Midland Community Association, and being without them, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has made it difficult for community associations.
“Had it gone on longer I think we might have had to consider closing up shop, because not only did we lose the bingo revenue we lost our rental revenue,” said Campbell.
She says typically they get between 25-40 players out on a regular night. They are adhering to health precautions including social distancing and wearing a mask when you are moving about the hall. For the most part, she said after a long period of lockdown people are happy to get out for an evening of bingo. They have a couple of jackpots that build every week and have gotten up to over $600.
“It is nice to see there is somewhere you can go out to have a nice evening,” said Campbell.
Nacmine is back in the bingo game also, and on Monday, October 5, it hosted their first evening. President Jim Decore is happy to see it back and is hopeful that people will return.
“We have five main sources of revenue for our community centre, and everything was shut down by COVID, so this is the first one opening for us,” said Decore. “Our power and gas bills keep coming in every month and if you don’t have any funds coming in to pay them, you are in trouble.”
The association has not been able to bring back its pancake breakfast yet, and hall rentals have been stalled, but they were able to make a little bit of revenue by renting the campground to the Passion play this season.
“I can’t see the hall rentals or the breakfasts returning until we have a vaccine,” said Decore.
They are on the casino list but that might change, and he has heard they are looking at going from a two-day casino to a single day to catch up.
He says they typically get about 20 out for the Monday night bingos. On the first day of the month, they have a wild game and it is a guaranteed $150 payout.