Legion adult carnival getting popular

The Waseca American Legion Post 228 held its annual Adult Carnival the evening of Friday, Jan. 30. Parked cars lined the streets surrounding the Legion about a block in every direction. They seemed to find the cold walk from the car worth it, however, because everyone inside was smiling.

 

It could have been the adult beverages that played a small part in the good humor, or the charity, the act of making a donation for a good cause. Liza Buker, Club Manager for the Legion was working in the ballroom. She observed, “There were certainly a lot of donations made, and it looks like there were more made than last year.” She was working a new stand for the carnival titled, “Redneck Tasting,” where people paid to take a shot of different kinds of beer including Hamm’s, Corona, and others. Said Buker, “We have only had a dozen or so people try our tasting, but it’s our first night trying it, this is still in the test stages. But I think we’ll try it again next year.”

 

While she spoke, the ballroom was shoulder to shoulder with visitors, armed with big bunches of red tickets. One of the ticket sellers was David Anderson, who admitted he had missed the last few adult carnivals, but had previously been a fairly regular volunteer performing a variety of tasks. “I volunteered filling food orders in the kitchen. I also once made a lawn dart game, cut the wood, finished it, gave it a camouflage case, and donated it to the auction. I’m also in the Sons of the American Legion and I believe a lot of the volunteers around here are from the Legion Auxiliary, too. We have about 30 volunteers working tonight.” His wife Penny was also volunteering.

 

In keeping with the crude humor of the event, a game for choosing suckers was called “Suck It,” a Coney Island bag toss, and a Minnow Race, for which eight minnows in a wooden structure swam around in their little boxes waiting for their gate to be lifted. Once it was, a group of screaming minnow fans watched from the sidelines. Other events included Axe Throwing, Plinko, and a wine wall featuring 72 different kinds of wine. Apparently the most popular attraction for the night was the Human Slot Machine where a ticket got customers a single spin. For the game there were three people with four different fruits to choose from, another person would ring a bell and when the noise stopped the three volunteers would grab a piece of fruit, if they matched, “We have a winner” would be yelled. The three volunteers were unable to see what fruit the others grabbed, which kept things honest and the sound of the slot game could be heard throughout the whole room.

 

Melissa Langager, who was volunteering said, “I’m part of the Legion Auxiliary, this is such a great way to help out the Legion and everyone seems to be so much happier this year, it’s almost strange to see it, but what a fun time for adults.”

 

There was also a silent auction with a live auction set to start at eight. All proceeds raised were to support the Legion and Legion structure maintenance.