Erie Hooked on Books spelling bee for adults raises money to give books to kids
Word lovers, put down your dictionaries. They won't be allowed Tuesday night, which has been reserved for you and yours to enjoy watching teams of three adults trying to remember how to spell words without, W-I-T-H-O-U-T, without, the aid of spell check.
Actually, all you really have to do is watch as 17 teams in the Hooked on Books Spelling Bee, the main annual fundraising event for Hooked on Books for Kids, vie for bragging rights.
The organization, since its founding in 1990, has raised funds to provide approximately 500,000 books to underprivileged children in Erie County. Can you spell half a million, H-A-L-F -A- M-I-L-L-I-O-N, half a million?
Or perhaps more to the point, can you spell G-R-E-A-T and C-A-U-S-E?
Well those are easy, but the teams have been promised that the words will be somewhere between them and “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” which organizers promise will NOT be used in the spelling bee.
"It's a fun night for adult spellers, some of whom dress up in costume to win a best costume award," said Hooked on Books' founder Dean Baldwin, 81, a retired English professor who taught at Penn State Behrend for 18 years.
The event takes place at Kellar's, 1402 State St. Doors open at 5 p.m., when people can peruse prize baskets, enter the 50/50 and figure out how to play tip boards as well as order drinks and food.
"We're a nonprofit made up entirely of volunteers, so 85 to 90 percent of the money we raise goes to purchasing the books," which go to underprivileged children from birth through high school, Baldwin said. He added that they spent about $1.79 per book in 2023, purchased from publishers who sell their overruns and overstocks to the group.
"From there, we turn them over to Linda Smalley at St. John's Lutheran Church (2216 Peach St.) which through a program called First Book, distributes the books."
Spelling teams need moral support, so the audience is important, as there is an award for the team with the most spirit, S-P-I-R-I-T, spirit. And another for the best costume, C-O-S-T-U-M-E, costume.
Admission to the event is $10, and the night ends with the top spellers engaged in a sudden-death round that prevents the spelling bee from going on all night, Baldwin said with a laugh.
This is the 15th Hooked on Books spelling bee, an annual event which took a hiatus during the pandemic. But it's come roaring back. Baldwin said they managed to purchase 20,000 books in 2023 alone.
"The hardest thing we have to do is let people know and explain what we do," Baldwin said.
Well, that and find another word that will definitely not be on next year's list.
For more information on the group and the event, visit hookedonbooksforkidserie.org/
Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Or at 814-870-1885.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie PA spelling bee: Adults to compete in fundraiser at Kellar's
