SPRINGFIELD – Approximately 120 people of all ages packed into the Senior Citizens’ Center in Springfield Tuesday night for the third annual Frog Jump Bingo Party.

Springfield resident Jeanette Cooper has attended the event all three years.

“I’ve been here for all the bingo games,” she said. “I haven’t won yet, but I keep hoping. We have good fun with everybody.”

Before the games started, Cooper held up her card and said she had “great anticipation for this one.”

“This is the second year we have come, but we’re going to make it a tradition,” said Willie Etheredge, who attended with his wife, Brenda. He said he was raised in Springfield, but currently lives between Cope and Gilbert.

“I was in the last graduating class at the old Springfield High School,” he said. “I lived right across the street from the school, so if I got in trouble and sent to the principal’s office, I just went home until that class was over and then came back to school.”

“This is like a homecoming for me,” Etheredge said, adding that he had been in the group of boys that caught the frog which won the very first frog jump contest.“It was a long time ago: I can’t remember the exact year.”

Many types of bingo games were played, including regular straight bingo, four corners, getting an X and getting all the numbers around the outside edge of the card. If more than one player called “bingo,” the winners had to draw from a deck of cards. Whoever got the highest number won that bingo game.

One interesting type of game involved all of the players standing up at the beginning. Anyone who had the numbers that were called had to sit down. The last person standing, who was actually the loser who didn’t have any of the numbers, was the winner of the game. The grand prize game at the end was a coverall.

There was a four-way tie for the $500 grand prize, but the ultimate winner was a youngster, Mary Beth Williams from Springfield. Earlier in the evening, she had traded her playing card with her grandmother and ended up with the lucky one.

Frog Jump Committee members who were the main organizers of the bingo event were Tammy Lee, Lloyd Morgan, Amanda Williams, Marilyn McCormick, Brad Morton and Tamara Redmond. Tammy Lee and Marilyn McCormick checked the winners’ cards during the evening, while Lloyd Morgan called out the numbers. Mayor Rusty Fogle was at the door, selling the bingo cards and greeting the arriving participants.

In addition to the prizes purchased by the committee, many local merchants donated products, services and gift certificates.

T&D Correspondent Loretta Demko can be reached by e-mail at eeshtenem@yahoo.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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