It must be time for the 2007 Potato Days recap. We’re still in the middle of Potato Days with the chocolate festival (the good marketing term for bake sale) and the big parade coming up tonight. We were invited over to a block party tonight, so that should be fun.
But the main event of Potato Days for most people (in our family only) is the Annual Whist Tournament. I outlined some of the rules in my recap from last year. This year turned out pretty similar, actually. Becky finished 2nd for the 2nd year in a row. She’s officially become a force to be reckoned with at the tourney. She won all 6 of her matches, and we thought for sure she was going to win until someone came out of nowhere and blew her 51 score away with a 62. Becky blames Uggie since he gave up 17 points to him in one round.
I finished 6th with a score of 43. I won 3 rounds, tied twice and lost the last round against Uggie. I ended up scoring 19 more points than I allowed, but it’s all about your final score. My dad played and finished with 35 points despite going 5-1 in his matches (only losing to Becky). Uggie got 28 and pretty much screwed everyone up the whole day including himself – he gave up 17 points to the winner to beat Becky; he and I played together and managed all of 3 points one round, then he beat me the next round when I really could’ve used a few more points to finish in the money. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that recap. Uggie’s dad Ward played as well, but ran into bad luck and finished with 25.
All in all it was a fun time – it seemed to go very fast this year. It started about 1:15 and we were done about 3:30. Maybe we’ll have to add some more rounds next year to fill up our time until 4:00.
Eric's space 
As Eric mentioned the whist tournament is the highlight of Potato Days for us. We look forward to it every year and I still can\’t believe how nervous I get when I enter the VFW door. This year was particularly nerve-wrecking because after the first 2 rounds I had scored an 11 and a 12. I knew that I was sitting in contention at that point because normal scores are around 5. In the 3rd round I scored a 7 which is still quite good. Eric and Uggie stopped over to my table at that point and they agreed I was sitting amongst the leaders. Then I started to get really nervous while I played. Fortunately it did not affect how I played. I managed to get some good partners (which makes all the difference in the world!!!) and scored a 9 in the 4th round and a 6 in the 5th. In the 6th and final round I was playing against another woman who was at 44. I was at 45 so I figured whoever won the last round between us was going to win the tournament. When I saw the 2 woman coming to join our table I prayed that I got the good player and she got the terrible one because I knew the terrible one would kill the hopes of whooever got her. I did get the good one!!! We came out ahead and I managed to win all 6 rounds finishing with a 51. Eric, Uggie, Norm and I all thought I would win. However, when they announced the winners Virgil was a surprise with his 62. Oh well, maybe next year. I am still happy to have placed 2nd for 2 years in a row and even happier to get the spend the afternoon playing whist in a competitive environment.