COMMUNITY SPIRIT

BINGO BINGO

This has been a whirlwind week of different activities from social, to personal to business to future planning, but the highlight has been a bonus night of community bingo at our Maple Ridge Library.

Although the once small town I moved to a few decades ago is no longer considered small, we do still hold on to small town activities like the occasional bingo night.

The games were to begin at 6 pm and since we had never gone before, and because we all know how popular bingo is, we decided it would be best to show up an hour early. We get there and the room door is locked. As we hold our ears to the wall, we hear a voice from behind say “are you here for bingo?”. 

The gal welcomes us and reminds us we are early. We chat back and forth with Marguerita, humourously, as she sets up the room, and agree to come back in half an hour. 

We cross over the street for a five dollar burrito take out, bring it to the bingo room where there were still no others, and we looked forward to winning all the games. But it was still ten minutes to game time.

At six pm a few more people came and by the time it was 6:10 we might have been around 15 when the first ball was called.

The ball dome was the smallest bingo ball dome we had ever seen and the balls were smaller than marbles. Three local grade 12 students undertook the calling process. They would spin the globe round and round, wait for a ball to drop, and call it. One had the voice of a whisper, one could not stop giggling and the other was a five star caller.

Midway through game one, more people were arriving and being accommodated. Everyone who knows me will know how annoyed I felt. Latecomers were a distraction from my attention spam, they slowed the game and they engaged in much conversation before sitting down to focus.

I tried to calm my inner self reminding me it is a small town, it is a free game, take it as a study of people for an upcoming story. Those thoughts were effective as I continued to cover my numbers, with translucent colourful chips, as they were called.

After game one, we were reminded there is a snack table at the back of the room: Bublé, chips, and gummies. Of course almost everyone was excited and went to gather their stash. My game companion and I did that before game time and turned the eye rolling interruption into a talking point. 

Finally the flow of the evening got back on track. Faye won a game and picked her prize — a mini deck of cards with dice, in a handy pouch. A few games later she won again and then me too. I picked an absorbent foam pad imprinted with the library motto: Read, Learn, Play.

Our new experience ended with a smile and a sense of community pride. It was a delightful event in a room of proud people enjoying the pleasures of how once small towns still celebrate. 

In the end, we were all winners.