Raffle Tickets

I was standing outside city hall in Wallace, Idaho last Friday when a man came breezing past and asked if I was in town for the 74th Annual Gyros Days Lead Creek Derby and Carnival.  I had seen the sign and assumed it was associated with Greek sandwiches, athough that seemed a little out of place in North Idaho.  He proceeded to tell me about the Gyros club, a group of local business owners who organizes this annual fund raiser for college scholarships for high school seniors. Not only did I learn that this particular gyros is pronounced like the front part of the word gyroscope and not the Greek sandwich — it has to do with a six foot ball being dropped in a fast moving creek several miles up the road. When the ball reaches town, accompanied by cyclists and runners and a lot of commotion, raffle tickets are drawn and the grand winner is awarded fifty silver dollars.  It was a fun conversation and before I knew it, money had changed hands and I was the proud owner of one of the books of raffle tickets that he quickly produced from his shirt pocket. I waited all afternoon on Saturday for the call informing me that I was the lucky winner.  It’s only Tuesday — I’m sure they’re just busy and will get around to notifying me any time now.