If the first few bars of the songs “Bad Boy Leroy Brown,” “Crocodile Rock,” or “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” were played on a piano, do you think you could identify them?
That was the challenge six teams faced while participating in The Friendly City Optimist Club’s recent fundraiser, “Fix the Field, Name that Tune,” held on Jan. 24 at the Moose Jaw Public Library theatre.
The club’s goal was to raise money to support upgrades to the Optimist Minor Girls’ fastball field complex.
Two groups of three teams faced off against each other as musician Greg Gower played nearly 50 songs, such as “Smoke on the water” and “House of the rising sun.” Teams had to guess the tune and answer trivia about it. They also had to figure out a few movie songs, such as “My heart will go on” from “Titanic.”
Even the crowd was encouraged to participate at times, whether in guessing the song or singing along. Guests Mayor Clive Tolley, Coun. Crystal Froese and Rev. Doug Shephard also contributed to the baseball-themed evening, with the council members reciting “Casey at the bat” and the latter leading “Take me out to the ball game.”
Two teams eventually faced off in the final, with Leigh Patterson and Valerie Brennan from Prairie South School Division capturing first and Cam Forer and Derek Hassen from Investment Planning Council placing second.
Other teams included The Optimist Club, Wakamow Rotary Club, minor girls’ fastball, and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division.
The club also met its fundraising goal for the evening. That amount will go toward the overall $7,000 cost to upgrade the ball diamond complex in partnership with the City of Moose Jaw.
“Everybody had a great time. They were really into it. It was just a real fun evening,” said The Optimist Club’s Gayle Jones. “It was very successful, so we’re planning on having another one at another date. And who knows, maybe annually … .
“Nobody had any bad comments. They all had a good time.”
Many songs the club chose were marketed toward the age of the participants, which is why most of the songs were decades old, she added with a chuckle.
With the vocal cords rested, The Optimist Club’s next activity will be running the concession stand at the Western Development Museum on March 18 and 19 during the Thunder Creek Model Train Show.
It also plans to hold a ladies’ night event in either April or May.
For more information about The Optimist Club, visit its Facebook page or moosejawoptimistclub.wordpress.com/about/.
