Not to be outdone by Burbank Noon Rotary’s karaoke cacophony at Nickelodeon, Burbank Sunrise Rotary recently went in for an evening of drag queen bingo at West Hollywood’s Hamburger Mary. The two events had this in common: lots of laughs, generous contributors and successful fundraising.
“Drag queen” bingo? Well, it was bingo plus a drag queen regaling all the participants with comedy club humor. For a stack of bingo cards that lasted the night, players paid $20 and prepared to submit to not-so-tender mercies. Whenever someone shouted “Bingo!” falsely, they got spanked. With a paddle. (Curiously, some made this mistake repeatedly.) Actual winners had to run all the way to the back of the room as the drag queen commanded the people to pelt them with their wadded up bingo cards.
The raucous fun was punctuated with live auctions of a night at the Magic Castle, Disneyland tickets, LA Kings tickets and a GoPro camera. (Burbank Sunrisers had purchased these items, then donated them.) Silent auction swag included bottles of wine and various gift cards.
For event organizer Janice Lowers, the event was anything but a drag, netting slightly over $2,200, “even after Legendary Bingo’s well-deserved cut. We use these funds to support charitable activities in the local community,” She adds, “The club thanks, Hamburger Mary and everybody’s favorite drag queen for making our event so successful.”
