Originally scheduled for the depths of winter but postponed due to weather, the Madawaska Valley Public Library’s first Cabin Fever Trivia Quiz was held on March 12 at the Barry’s Bay Legion Branch 406. Twelve teams of six competitors vied for the coveted trophy, which was eventually won after “four gruelling rounds” by a team called We Snow That. Above from left Pete Burchat, Bob Corrigan, Pauline Burchat, Tom Burchat, Ben van Wesenbeeck, Dave Lowell in front.
Library CEO Karen Filipkowski said they were pleased with such a good turnout for their first winter quiz. Library Board chair Frances Mawson welcomed everyone and thanked all who helped make it possible. This included emcee Trevor Smith-Millar of MooseFM, the judges, scorers, and the many volunteers from both library and Legion. Special thanks went to local sponsors for their support with door prizes and snacks:
- Algonquin East Animal Clinic (Dr. Anne Burkart)
- Andrea Budarick
- Back Country Studios (Helen Potvin)
- Barry’s Bay Home Building Centre
- Barry’s Bay Metro
- Linda’s Original Cards (Linda Neuman)
- Pantry Savings
- Shell Canada
- Shulist Family Farms
- So Creative Home Rugs (Nicole Aubé)
- Spring to Life Farms
- The Madawaska Valley Current
Ken Ramsden performs the winning Cabin Fever Blues
The first round was sickly sweet with many questions about maple, maple products, maple syrup and even more maple. The second round, however, was completely different. It required the teams to write Cabin Fever-themed lyrics for their choice of two blues tunes: House of the Rising Sun or Folsom Prison Blues. A panel of three music judges conferred and eventually awarded Best Song for Cabin Fever Blues – sung to the tune of Folsom Prison Blues, lyrics by the Station Keepers: Joanne Olsen, John Olsen, Karen Yakabuski, Marie Scott-Villeneuve, Clifford Blank, Terry Recoskie. Barry’s Bay resident Ken Ramsden performed the winning number, but not before sharing lyrics from several runner-up teams. He noted that “snow plows” and “pain” featured prominently in most teams’ songs, and gave special credit to The Greenthumbs whose failure to rhyme did not diminish the humorous result of their creative efforts.
The winning teams’ scores were impressive: We Snow That led the field with 71 points. Other places were closely fought as The Greenthumbs tied with The BabyBroomers for second place at 61 points, and close behind them was Over The Hogline with 60 points. Filipkowski praised all participants for their efforts at the end of the evening.
Library Board chair Frances Mawson welcomes the trivia quiz participants
In case you want to challenge yourself, here are a few of the questions from Cabin Fever Trivia Quiz.
- How many million tons of maple syrup were stolen from Quebec in the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2011-12? Was it: (a) 1420 tons (b) 3000 tons (c) 6500 tons
- Name the largest rodent in North America.
- There are some areas of Hudson’s Bay that have lower levels of gravity than other places on Earth. True or False?
We, the workers!, had a lovely time. The competitors were all good humoured, the song section hilarious and the winners gracious. Congratulations to all competitors and gratitude to all the helpers, with special thanks to our Legion 406 hosts. When shall we all meet again?