Haunted Hayride event...

Right now it looks like the date for the Haunted Hayride is set for October 30th which is a Tuesday. Some members felt like this was something they wanted addressed for a possible Saturday day. Jan Reding will be speaking on behalf of the Optimist to have them review the date and possibly change to a Saturday. Optimist are still planning on having the "Witches Corner" event and any members who would like to dress up, please do, not mandatory. Just a night of fun and Polaroid pictures will be done again for $2.00. More information to come.

End of the Year Banquet .... October 6th

At today's meeting, September 15th, it was announce that we would have our annual end of the year banquet on October 6th at 6:00 PM. It will be pot luck but will be tailgate and the Chiefs as the theme. Feel free to wear Chief attire. Meat will be provided and we all need to bring a dish as well. This is also John Davis' birthday so I would like to bring a cake. I don't have to worry about him seeing this as he never gets on to the computer. Please check with Annette and Sheila if you want to see what is being brought.

Save the date....

The Grain Valley Assistance Council will have the Live/Silent Auction and Chili Supper on October 13th. &:00 PM at the Grain Valley High School. If you have anything you would like to donate, please see Mary Strack.

Bingo.....Bingo.... Bingo...

B-14......
Friday night was the official start of the BINGO in the community center. Dale started the night off by calling BINGO which started at 6:00 that night. On the first night, we had a nice crowd and we started off with a small group and eventually had almost all of the tables covered. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and waited anxiously to be able to call Bingo. There was one sole person at around 9:30 who was a BINGO die hard and some of members played in effort to keep from this person from being the only one. So we knew it was her or us that would win. Finally after closing for the night, we waited until Saturday at 2:00. Christy Davis started off by calling the numbers and the crowd again started to come in steadily. We took at break at 5:00 to 6:00 and there was one couple who stayed until the end. During the break, she mentioned that her and her husband were enjoying the BINGO and the people and the food was great, they loved it and wanted to play more. And play more they did as they proceeded to win some blackouts and the pots were good on those. Saturday night was busy and we had a good turn out on all three sessions of BINGO, so it B-1, I-24, N-43, G-52 and O-60 and so on.

Jim ready to call numbers

Bingo players

Bingo players

Jan taking the little time out from a busy schedule from out in the fair grounds.

Mary telling John he will behave himself and work hard or else.

John helping in the concession stand.

Bull Frog Jump at the fair....

Optimist club members hosted the Bull Frog Jumping contest at the fair again this year. It was unknown whether there would be any frogs jumped this year as we had a big dry summer. There was about 8 contestants in which one frog was injured and unable to jump. There were some really lively frogs and owners had to run and catch them as they took off the minute they were out of the containers. Sharon, Bob and John along with Lori, Bob and Sharon's daughter, set up the area without knowing if any frogs would be jumping. But they did start to come in almost at 1:00 and turned out to be an enjoyable event. Everyone likes to watch the frogs jump and this year they did not fail to make the crowd of people squeal as some of them got away the minute they were out of their containers. Once they did get to hopping, then they just took off. Awards were given to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and as you can see by some of the pictures, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Bob getting the Optimist sign up for the jump.

John setting up fencing to keep the frogs from jumping away.

Sharon, entering the contestants and their frogs.

mothers with kids coming to register for frog jump

some of our frog entries and their owners.

Sharon passing out trophies to winners

Trophy winner

Trophy winner

Winners from the frog jumping contest, trophies and ribbons.

Carson Aaron Ambrose

One of the good things about the fair, is you can always get to see those who sometime you do not get a change to see. I got a picture of Kathy and Aaron Ambrose' beautiful son. I have been trying to get a picture of him to share with others and here he is. Kathy and Aaron, is one handsome boy.

Optimist Club Float....

The Grain Valley Optimist Club had a float again in the parade. The theme this year was Lighting the Way and the committee got together and agreed on a design. The objective was to keep it tied in with our reason for our club with the kids of Grain Valley. There were four hand made lamppost using clear coke bottles for the hanging lights with gold curled ribbon for the illumination. These poles had unique names like Easter, Bike Safety, Dictionary and Scholarship, followed by either, Lane, Street or Blvd. All yellow with green letters. Each Pole had a logo of the Optimist and in the front of the float, a large lamp as seen above with lights made out of balloons line with paper and then plaster to keep their form. The objective was to show the different paths of life of a child from Easter to Bike safety to Dictionary and finally Scholarship. The final is becoming an Optimist member of Grain Valley. I was not able to get a full picture of the kids on the float so if someone took a picture of this, please e-mail to me and I can insert it. I also heard from people who were on the side lines that the float did look great. The kids we used for the float were, Avery and Jackson Brady (Shaun's kids) Elizabeth Caley (Christi's daughter) and Kathy Doty's son, Nick. We thank those kids as I know it can be boring waiting for the parade to start. Thank you Lori (Bob and Sharon's daughter) who helped by pulling the trailer with her jeep. Again, if anyone has more pictures, I would like to still post more.
Thanks to all.

Group working to secure the pole.

Christi going over some details with daughter Elizabeth, one of the four kids on float.

John Bob and Jim making sure base of pole secured.

Dale showing his new ride in the parade... nice