By Dan Brechlin, Record-Journal staff
Published May 15, 2012, in the Record-Journal
http://www.myrecordjournal.com/meriden/article_ac4b251e-9ee3-11e1-95b6-0019bb2963f4.html
MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT—Waiting hours for a cow to do its business may not sound like the most exciting afternoon. The Meriden Kiwanis Club, however, expects to draw a crowd next month with a game of cow chip bingo.
The Meriden Kiwanis Club has planned a cow chip bingo, a raffle event, to be held at the Hub downtown on June 9. Members will line nearly 1,500 square yards of the Hub and divide it into squares, bring two cows into the lined rectangle and anxiously wait until one “plops.” Raffle-goers will be able to purchase deeds to the squares and in whichever one the chips land, the owner could win $3,000.
“We used to do it every other year,” said Kiwanis President Bob Gollnick. “It seems to be a good social event.”
The club has been hosting a similar raffle for several years at the YMCA Outdoor Center. Cow chip events are often held in more rural locations. The Kiwanis held one at the Hub in 2009.
“Using the Hub is great because it has a lot of traffic flow,” Gollnick said. “It’s almost like Central Park with all of the events happening there.”
Gollnick added that he likes using the Hub because the event looks entirely out of place. Many children who live in inner-city Meriden who had never seen or petted a cow attended in 2009, Gollnick noted.
Mayor Michael S. Rohde, who said he has attended cow chip raffles in the past, agreed it would be a good idea.
“They are pretty funny,” Rohde said. “You see the cows wandering around and people crossing their fingers.”
Cow chip raffles can take a while. In 2009, it took more than three hours for the first chips to fall.
The raffle will benefit the Kiwanis scholarship program. The winner will take home $3,000, while the second place victor will win $1,000.
The Hub has been a showcase for several events in recent years, including a circus, car show, the Meriden Housing Authority block party, an ice rink, and others. By the end of the year, it is expected that ground will be broken on the Hub to open up Harbor Brook and begin turning the flat piece of land into a park.
“It’s all part of a theme of getting things going so people have a good time and eventually will be developed into a park and even a better venue,” Rohde said.
He noted that the Cole Bros. Circus will return to the city at the end of June and a carnival, which is a new event, is scheduled to come to the Hub at the end of August.
dbrechlin@record-journal.com
Posted
Jun 18 2012, 11:08 AM
by
Scott Smith