They believe this is their year. They have been studying nightly.
Well, no. Not really. Not even on their breaks.
Kal Tire looks to become the first team other than the Okanagan College Eggheads or Queen Beez to win the annual Adult Spelling Bee Team Challenge, hosted by the Literacy Society of the North Okanagan.
Both the Beez and Eggheads are back for the event slated for Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Prestige Vernon Lodge, starting at 8 a.m. Breakfast is served at 7:30 a.m.
Nobody has topped the Eggheads or Beez, not even the legends in their own minds, the Morning Star NewsBees, who have finished in the top-three before, but have never reached the apex of local spelling bragging rights.
Beach Radio bee-masters Brian Martin and Rebecca Barton (three Bs in their names, combined, four if you count the B in Beach) kick off the main event after breakfast is served. The dynamic duo encourage and entertain the teams through the three rounds, each round consisting of eight words to be spelled.
"Up to 20 teams of eight will compete over three rounds of words carefully selected to weed out the competition," said the society. "Is this the year for new reigning champions?"
The best part is, win or lose, proceeds from the bee go to the Literarcy Society's highly successful Raise-a-Reader campaign, where the primary focus is to "Raise Readers" in the community.
With support from Postmedia Raise-a-Reader Campaign, the Vernon Morning Star, Decoda Literacy Solutions, and the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, all of the donations received during the campaign are topped up and go even further to support programs.
You still have time to show your support for literacy. Donations received by Oct. 16 count towards the campaign total.
"With community support for our Spelling Bee Team Challenge event, fundraising campaigns, sock sales, and general donations and grants in support of literacy we have been able to provide programming to thousands of children, families, and seniors in the Greater Vernon area," said society executive director Debbie Nurse.
There have been some hilarious and creative team names over the years with equally creative costumes that add to the fun and spirit of the event (the Morning Star team is decked out in black and yellow, like bees.
"Best of all – no one spells alone," said Nurse. hank you to the teams that have already pre-registered for this event."
Those teams include:
• Kal Tire;
• Morning Star;
• ValleyFirst Credit Union;
• Okanagan College;
• Edward Jones;
• Queen Beez;
• Nixon Wenger;
• School District 22;
• Okanagan Regional Library;
• None of Your Beeziness;
• RBC;
• Okanagan Restoration;
• Terry’s Team;
• Cross Pollinators…
• Scotia Bank;
• TKH Dancers.
