Second Trivia Night offers more challenging rounds of questions

There was some head-scratching again this year at the second annual Trivia Night held Friday at the Chase County Fairgrounds, which drew 16 teams answering 90 questions in nine different categories.
The fundraiser for Catholic Social Services and St. Isidore’s Gift & Thrift in Imperial was another big hit, said Bill Sullivan of Imperial, thrift store manager who headed up the effort with a committee of volunteers.
He again had comments from team members on how much fun the night was. It was also a big success on raising funds for the efforts of CSS and St. Isidore’s to help those in need, he said.
“All the funds raised go to those in need to spread hope in the Good Life,” he said. “That’s the whole point of why we do this.”
At this time of year, with Thanksgiving and Christmas near, the need is especially great, he added.
Teams of six were challenged with 10 questions in each of nine categories that touched on sports, U.S. quarter designs, cooking, hardware/construction, civics, science, fashion, movies and fairy tales. Emcees posing the questions were Nichole Spady of Imperial and John Soukup of Lincoln, development officer with CSS.
Sullivan noted they try to have a wide range of categories at Trivia Night. He said for those who think they can’t contribute on a team, or say “I don’t know anything,” will often be surprised on what they do know.
The first and second place teams from last year repeated those same places this year, led by team champion Deuteronomy with Carl Zuege as team captain. Others on the winning team were Ashley Holscher, Cale Holscher, Jake McDaniel, Marissa McDaniel and Emmitt Zuege.
Second place was Smartinis 2.0 and team members Danielle Haarberg, Charlie Haarberg, Trish Franck, Mark Franck, Elizabeth Haarberg and Dirk Haarberg.
The first and second place teams donated back their $200 and $150 cash prizes to CSS and St. Isidore’s, Sullivan said.
There was a tie for second place, Sullivan said, so the pre-established tie-breaker was used to determine the runner-up team. That tie-breaker was the team’s guess on how many points they would score in all nine rounds.
Others finishing in the top five were:
3rd Houston We Have an Answer—Dale Schilke, Alex Schilke, Erica Sorensen, Kyle Sorensen, Scott Leibbrandt, Maika Leibbrandt.
4th Maddux Cattle Company—Mitch Steffens, Jim Steffens, Will Mertz, Chris Botha, John Maddux, Brendon Ventor.
5th Chase Co. Hospital—Barry Marshall, Andrew Slager, Dalton Baney, Linda Nelson, Josh Burke, Shannon Rammage.
Sullivan said the silent auction that accompanied the activities raised an estimated $3,000 itself. Team members or others in the audience had the chance to bid on 21 items, all of which were donated.
Door prizes, also all donated, were awarded to team members at the breaks during the competition.
Appetizers were prepared and served by St. Patrick’s Altar Society members. Imperial Super Foods donated pulled pork for sandwiches.
Sullivan said, like last year, there were a lot of comments Friday night with hopes of another Trivia Night in 2024.
“We had a lot of requests to hold it again,” he smiled.
Last year’s Trivia Night drew 15 teams, so participation was up this year, Sullivan said. The event was set up to take a total of 20 teams.