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Boone Chamber of Commerce Hosts 14th Annual Spelling Bee for Grown Ups March 19; Register by March 12

By Paul T. Choate 

Last year's Spelling Bee for Grown Ups saw a great turnout. Photo by Ken Ketchie
Last year’s Spelling Bee for Grown Ups saw a great turnout. Photo by Ken Ketchie

March 7, 2013. On Tuesday, March 19, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, in association with Watauga County Schools, will host the 14th annual Spelling Bee for Grown Ups in the Watauga High School gymnasium at 5 p.m.

Registration per team is $60. Bee Bucks are $10 each. Space is limited to 35 teams, so register now. The deadline for registration is March 12.

Proceeds will advance the work of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and benefit the Watauga Education Foundation’s participation in the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program.

Teams of four persons will spell words in writing in three rounds (easy, intermediate and difficult). If a word is misspelled, the team has the option to buy “Bee Bucks” and remain in the competition.

“It’s a real hoot. Last year we had over 200 people there watching the event and we had over 30 teams participating,” said Chamber President Dan Meyer. “We’re hoping to have about 40 teams this year. … We have a great time doing it. It’s really kind of a community event.”

The teams form in a variety of ways, Meyer said. Several local businesses, organizations and even groups of friends come together to try to be the best grown up spellers in the area. 

There will be awards for best costumes, most creative team name and table decorations, and prizes for the best spellers.

The event is held as a followup to the Chamber’s sponsorship of the spelling bees in the local public schools. The Chamber gets together a lot of sponsors to put up prizes, Meyer said. 

Spectators are welcome to attend the event. There is no admission charge but donations are appreciated

For more information or to request a registration form, call 828-264-2225.

About Imagination Library

Since the initial program launch in the United States, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gone from just a few dozen books to nearly 40,000,000 books mailed to children in the United States, into Canada and across the proverbial pond into the United Kingdom. Currently over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to almost 700,000 children each and every month. Already statistics and independent reports have shown Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library drastically improves early childhood literacy for children enrolled in the program. Further studies have shown improved scores during early literacy testing.

Video of Last Year’s Spelling Bee for Grown-Ups
By Ken Ketchie

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfVQjqdxAUc&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Photo Gallery of Last Year’s Spelling Bee for Grown-Ups
Photos by Bob Caldwell and Ken Ketchie

Click on first picture and then use the arrow key to flip through the photo gallery.

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