model train for hobby

Prize draws galore at the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's annual banquet

    Ron Einarson reaches deep into the bucket held by Morgan Turney to select a winning ticket.

   What makes the WMRC banquets so much fun are the prize draws - and we have lots of them!

    We start off with the door prizes. Every guest receives a free ticket. There are several prizes available, including some "non-rail" items. Then we have the elimination draw. This draw actually works in reverse! The very last ticket drawn wins the prize! There were lots of moans and groans to be heard as Morgan read off the names of the ticket holders who weren't called last!

    Our last prize draw had lots of tickets. Guests purchased an arm's length of tickets for five bucks. Just to keep things fair (as some have arms longer than others) WMRC blog editor Paul Ullrich sold the tickets and used his own very long arms to measure the tickets!

    The "arms length" is measured as such: The person holds the end of the ticket roll by their fingertips, then turns their head away and pulls out the ticket roll until it touches the tip of their nose. Then the tickets are torn off at that point.

   It should be pointed out that Paul doesn't have the longest reach in the club. That honour belongs to Robert Weaver. But Paul does have a larger nose.

    There were tons of prizes, and most people walked away with something. There were even gift certificates from Home Depot and Canadian Tire, good places to buy all the wood, screws, nails and glue you need to build your layout!