We had another great trip to Calder Casino yesterday, our Christmas in July trip. Several people were decked out in their Christmas finest, at least the July-in-Florida version of their Christmas finest. Lots of fun and some great prizes, including an electric fireplace as the grand prize and two room heaters as the baby grand prizes – I know, it’s July, but the fireplace looks great year round and the heaters will probably come in handy this winter.

This was our fourth monthly trip, and everything is starting to run pretty smoothly. I guess that means that it’s time to start changing things up a bit. We’ve got two new games to try out on our upcoming August trips, and we’re thinking about trying something different with the drawings too.

Speaking of different, we’ve got two trips in August. We have a Special Olympics Fund Raising trip on Wednesday August 16, and our “regular” trip a week later on Wednesday August 23. The Special Olympics trip costs a bit more, $50 rather than our usual $36. We think you’ll find that it’s well worth the additional money. We’ve got more bigger & better prizes for the bus, local businesses are really coming through. Here’s our current list of sponsors: All About Bagels, Anthony’s on the Boulevard, Boston Market, Café You, Domino’s Pizza. Downtowner Car Wash, Englund’s Subs, Fin’s, First Round Draft, Golden Corral, Il Primo Pizza & Wings, Lenny’s Grill & Subs, Mangia Bene, Maria’s Italian Restaurant, Mel’s Diner, The Moorings, Nathan’s Famous, Pizza Hut, Super Cuts, Taco Bell, and Teriyaki Madness. And as we say on our fliers, it’s not too late to become a sponsor! As for what’s really important, all of the extra ticket price plus more goes to Special Olympics. We’ll also be selling additional BINGO cards for $1, and the 50-50 will of course be for Special Olympics – we’re hoping to raise $1000 for a great cause.

Speaking of 50-50’s and great causes, yesterday’s 50-50 was for Special Olympics, as was the June trip. That’s another $293 that we’ll be presenting on the Special Olympics trip, and that’s in addition to the money we’ll be raising that day!