Adult spellers ready to rumble on Thursday

With 10 teams registered, organizers of the Kootenai County Adult Spelling Bee said this year’s contest is shaping up to be the biggest ever.

The spelling bee will be held at a luncheon Thursday, May 26, at North Idaho College. While it’s past time for guests to order lunches, there will be free gallery seating available for friends, family and the general public.

“And if we run out of chairs, we will bring in more,” said Lynn Brooks, president of the Coeur d’Alene branch of American Association of University Women. The local branch sponsors the event each year to raise money for scholarships at local colleges.

The bee starts at 11:30 a.m. and will be over by 1:30. Parking will be free and available in the vicinity of the student union, where the event will be held.

This year’s bee may be a face-off of two previous winners. Both the “Bee’s Knees,” from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church — which won last year — and “Eleemosynary,” the 2014 winner from North Idaho Eye Institute, will be back.

They can expect plenty of competition from these additional teams: “Wordly Women,” Spokane branch of AAUW; “Nerdy Wordsters,” City of Post Falls; “Hive Mind,” AGC Aerocomposites; “Let it Bee,” Gonzaga University; “Bee-Dazzled,” North Idaho College; “Ladies of Locution,” Kootenai County Auditor’s Office; “Allergeeks,” ALK Source Materials; and “The Killer Bees,” North Idaho Retired Educators’ Association.

Each team is given 30 seconds to confer and write the word on an overhead projector. A team member will then spell the word for the audience. If there is a discrepancy, the written word will prevail.

The spelling bee is held each year to promote good spelling and vocabulary, and to raise money for scholarships. In the past four years, it has produced $11,000 worth of scholarships for NIC and the University of Idaho Coeur d’Alene Center.