Legion hosts ninth Chase the Ace

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Legion hosted their ninth iteration of their Chase the Ace fundraiser for the organization on March 17, hoping to once again outdo their previous records. 

According to Edith Stephenson, the Legion has been doing the fundraiser since 2018 and has since raised more than $29,000. 

“It has been great. The community has been very supportive and the larger the jackpot has grown, the more people we have coming in,” she said.

For every ticket sold for the event, the jackpot grows by $1.50, and since operations resumed after COVID-19, their audience has been steadily increasing. Tickets go on sale for $5 a piece. 

“The St. Patrick’s Day event has always been a fairly popular one and it just so happens that it is also going to be happening on a Friday this year,” said Stephenson. 

To celebrate the occasion, the Legion had Irish music playing over the course of the event, and the Baldwin Barbeque in the kitchen was serving Irish stew. 

Tickets for the event, Stephenson explained, are sold between six and eight o’clock, before numbers are pulled at 8:15 p.m. and winners are determined. 

“The draw gets 20 per cent of the amount from the tickets that we have sold. For example, if we sell 100 tickets, that person gets $100, so that is a dollar a ticket,” said Stephenson. “That person then gets to pick a card from a deck which we spread out, face down, on a table and they put their finger on one card and hold it there.”

If the chosen card happens to be the ace of spades, the person wins the jackpot and walks away with some extra money in their pocket. 

If the ace of spades is missed, the jackpot returns to a pool which is then allowed to grow for the next event and so on. Every time the ace of spades is missed, the failed card is removed from the deck to increase the next person’s odds of winning.

“On three occasions, the ace was pulled. We had sold over $4,000 worth of tickets by that point,” said Stephenson. “On the five other occasions, we have sold anywhere between 75 and 790 tickets before someone actually found the ace.”

Going forward, Stephenson added the Legion is also working to organize several types of events over the course of the upcoming summer season.

More details will be released as they become available and the Legion has solidified the types of events they will be hosting.