Bingo Under the Stars

Imagine our excitement when my fave friend Sean and I learned that there was an outdoor drive-in bingo in Carp, a mere 20 minute drive from Ottawa.  Holy cow!  Why didn’t we know about this before now?  As you know, Auntie is a big fan of bingo.

I did a quick calculation.  Let's see, the drive-in bingo has been held on the Carp fairgrounds every Wednesday evening in July since 1954, a total of about 227 bingo games. Since Sean and I hadn't been born yet, I didn't drive until I was 18, Sean moved to Ottawa in the '80's, minus this, times that, divided by thingy and voila! We've missed our chance to play about 108 bingo games.  Clearly we have a lot of catching up to do.

Like any dedicated bingophile, off we raced to Carp to enjoy a beautiful summer evening of bingo under the stars.  In fact, the evening turned out to be even better than we thought it would be and Sean had a moment of fame too!

When we arrived at the bingo the lot was almost full.  After a bit of driving around, we snagged a spot near the back behind all the other participants who had the foresight to arrive early.  Who knew it would be so popular?  They did!

After parking in the weeds, we meandered our way through the grassy fairgrounds towards the front.  All around us were families sprinkled here and there, some on blankets, some sitting in circles on lawn chairs, talking and eating and generally enjoying the lovely summer's evening.  Kids were running around laughing and some families were barbequing behind their cars, their trunks packed with cold drinks and munchies.  It was like a big family picnic and adding to the festive country atmosphere there was a distinct aroma of horses coming from the stables near the edge of the fairgrounds.