There are a lot of reasons to venture over into Hickman County, to visit St. Denis Church. They have the best potluck dinners that double as picnic meals; some Sundays the Higgins family goes to town singing to the top of their lungs in worship; their parish is very welcoming and are truly glad you are there. But the best thing about St. Denis Church is turkey bingo.
St. Denis is a missionary parish. It has been since its inception 100 years ago this year. 100 years ago a lot of people couldn’t get to church in Fancy Farm, it was just too far away. So, the churches of St. Denis in Hickman County, and St. Charles in Carlisle County became missionary churches of St. Jerome in Fancy Farm. They were always smaller, by design. But their parishioners have always had a tendency to do a lot more. It’s just the nature of their parish. So the same person who ushers may do a reading and may minister the Eucharist. But they come together and they get the job done. That’s the way they’ve always done it.
Once a year, usually early in November, St. Denis offers a fundraising event that is totally unique to them. Turkey Bingo. Yep, you heard me right. Turkey Bingo. They play 25 games of Bingo and the prize is a turkey. Let me just tell you, people line up.
They have a chili supper beforehand. For $2 you can eat all the chili you want. Drinks are $1. Sweets are 50 cents. Popcorn is 50 cents. People stand in line.
They use the same Bingo cards that they use for Picnic Bingo. It’s those old-time cards that have the built-in slide that you can slide when your number is called. They play straight Bingo games. You can win horizontally, vertically or diagonally. They accept the big and little square, the big and little diamond. You can win with the postage stamp in the right-hand corner only. They usually call 10 to 15 numbers each game before somebody bingos. And when they bingo, they let everyone know that it was them who got the bingo.
This year there was a girl who was playing, she was a member of the church. She bingo’d and screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone clapped and laughed. She said she had been playing for 18 years and finally won a game. She was so proud of that turkey.
I like to play. I do like to win but I don’t expect to win. I am there to play. And to visit. There are years that I have won more than one turkey. I love those years. I don’t need more than one turkey so we have been known to hand one off to someone who didn’t win as we leave for the night. But this year was something else.
They only give away one turkey each game so if there is more than one winner, they keep calling numbers to determine who will end up with the turkey. The person who comes in second doesn’t get anything. So, I got to holler Bingo. But there were 3 winners. That was okay. I was feeling lucky so I was sure I would win in a call-off.
One of the other winners was quickly eliminated. That meant that I only had one more person to beat. And they continued to call numbers until one of us fell. And they continued to call. And they continued to call. Every time I had a number, so did my opponent. It was getting ridiculous. The Bingo officials came over a couple of times to confirm that I really did have those numbers. I guess they were watching her too. We thought for a long time that we had the same card. But we didn’t. Hers had a different identification number.
Finally, I was down to one number. I didn’t know what they would do if we both covered all of our numbers. Maybe I would let her cook the turkey and invite me over and help her eat it. It came down to me just needing N-32. I didn’t have a clue what was going to happen. They called out N-34. She hollered out that she had it. Everyone looked at me. I said no, I didn’t have it. I needed N-32. They asked if I really didn’t have it. I really didn’t. I had lost. She had won.
My husband watched my reaction. He knew that I was going to be mad. He told me he would buy me a turkey. I wasn’t mad. That was so much fun. I got to holler Bingo about 20 times. Every time I had a number I hollered Bingo. That was so exciting to me. I didn’t care if I won or not. I was so excited thinking that I might win that turkey.
Needless to say, the rest of the night was pretty anti-climatic. I was a little bummed when it was all over and everyone got to go over to the freezer to get their turkeys and I went home without. But I had such a good time, I wasn’t the least bit disappointed.
I guess we’ll be having ham for Thanksgiving.