We have a lot of amazing stuff going on all the time, and what makes that even better is the fact that we ALSO have Kate Marchewka, a very lovely volunteer of ours who also takes very lovely pictures.
So, by this point, you’ve heard all about our first-ever Spelling Bee for Cheaters. You’ve heard about how it was a resounding success, how it sold out, and how it raised over $23,000. Perhaps you missed it, or perhaps you’d love to see some pictures to refresh your memory. Either way, this is the blog post for you!
Welcome to our Spelling Bee for Cheaters, Bree and Greg say cheerfully!
Thanks for joining us! Won’t you take a look at the clever names all of our teams came up with?
What’s that? You’d like to MEET some of our teams? Okay!
Allow us to introduce: Megan and Sugi!
Laura and Elana!
Care to meet our good friend Andy Garris, of whom you have heard SO VERY MUCH ABOUT on this very website? Here he is, demonstrating one of his many talents: Bartending.
And here is our emcee for the night, the one and only (honestly — there can only be one) Ray McDaniel, who is (fingers crossed) our new best friend.
And now, our esteemed celebrity helpers for the event: Dave Eggers, Phoebe Gloeckner, and Davy Rothbart (who did not, I swear it, lay down for the ENTIRE bee).
The bee itself looked something like this:
And the crowd generally looked like this, which is to say, plentiful and laughing:
The half-time show included the talented and pretty Annie Palmer singing a Magnetic Fields song with the entire staff of 826michigan backing her up.
A little bit more spelling (spoiler alert, this is one of the winners!):
And then! To much pomp and circumstance, 826michigan board members Keith Hood and Angela Kujava are named the winners!
I wish I could give you more details on the words, but to be honest, most of them were so difficult, I cannot remember them, let alone spell them! I do remember “poultice” and “quale” — although I’m not sure what the latter one means. Those might have been the only two I could have spelled correctly.
At any rate! Thanks to Dave, Phoebe, and Davy! Thanks to Andy Garris and everyone at Woodruff’s! Enormous thanks to Thompson-Shore and Car and Driver, our sponsors, and to other businesses who helped: Ghostly International, Café Japon, Beezy’s Cafe, Salon Vox, A Trade for A Trade, the University of Michigan MFA program in Creative Writing, and Google. And thank you, thank you to our brave and remarkable spellers, who raised an unbelievable amount of money, impressed us with their spelling savvy, and just entertained the heck out of us last week.