NORTHAMPTON — “Are you ready to bumble?” asked Stephen Eldredge in a booming voice to kick off the 19th annual Adult Spelling Bee at JFK Middle School on Wednesday evening.
The school’s cafeteria was full of costumed contestants and spelling aficionados awaiting the start of the Northampton Education Foundation fundraiser. Eldredge served as one of three pronouncers for the eight rounds, or “swarms,” that eliminated three-person teams after two mistakenly spelled words.
Many teams were dressed in costumes based on their team names. Members of The BEE-tles, sponsored by Northampton Area Pediatrics, donned shaggy black wigs; (Sp?)ring Forward, sponsored by Leeds Elementary’s fifth grade, wore hats adorned with flowers; R-BEE-G, sponsored by Hawley Hooligans, dressed in black robes with dissent necklaces and bee antennae.
EN ESS CEE, sponsored by River Valley Co-op and made up of Elizabeth Armstrong, Wendy Parrish, and Vanessa Smith, were the spelling bee champions after correctly spelling “pleurodynia,” a sudden attack of chest or abdominal pain, in the fifth round of the final.
“We have an amazing team,” Armstrong said following their victory. The team had an actual rocket scientist in Parrish, which Armstrong, a doctor, described as their “secret weapon.” Smith, a lawyer, rounded out the championship team.
Armstrong also said that some members of the team speak French and are knowledgeable in Latin or Greek, which helped them throughout the opening round, semi-finals and ultimately the final.
The other finalists, The Bee Bee Kings, were made up of Pete Nelson, Dave Stern and Tom Kovar, and they were sponsored by the Osaka Lunch Club.
Seven out of eight swarms had four teams at a time (the eighth had three groups) and the first round was the longest with 15 words.
While contestants in the first swarm were all able to correctly spell “dactylography,” all were stumped by “bouillabaisse.” By the 11th word of the first swarm, only (Sp?)ring Forward and The BEE-tles remained and they were unfazed by words such as “mumpsimus” and “esquamulose.” By the 15th word, (Sp?)ring Forward ended the prolonged bout by correctly spelling “ormolu,” meaning golden or gilded brass or bronze used for decorative purposes.
Throughout the evening, there were whispers throughout the crowd of people attempting to spell a word after the pronouncer gave a definition and used it in a sentence. Contestants had 15 seconds once the pronouncer was done to write the word correctly on a large whiteboard for a panel of judges.
The 13th word of the third swarm stumped the remaining two teams, Pro(s)pellers and Bees Here Now.
“Euchred,” said Julie Waggoner, a pronouncer for the spelling bee. “Means slightly tart by an acid or spice. A good apple pie needs a little bit of euchred so it’s not too sweet.”
The round ended in a tie as neither team could spell the word, and both made it to the semifinal round because the judges decided they could not be separated.
The spelling bee contest also had prizes for the “most humorous” team and the one with the best costume. The team sponsored by the A2Z Science and Learning Store, named A2Zzz, won most humorous for falling asleep on stage with one team member wearing pajamas and another a bathrobe. The award for best costume went to We’ve BEEn Framed for their elaborate costumes involving large golden frames around their painted faces.
Peter Bigwood, an NEF board member, served as emcee for the spelling bee and Joe Bartolomeo as the third pronouncer.
The spelling bee was dedicated to a founding member of NEF, Gerald Budgar, who died earlier this year. Spelling bee organizers described him as “the heart” of NEF.
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com