On Saturday it won’t be schoolchildren reciting words and strutting their spelling skills — it will be the senior citizens of Lyon County.
The first Lyon County Senior Spelling Bee will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at His Place Activity Center, 807 Constitution St.
All spellers will be age 50 and over. Nancy Morrow, office coordinator at the Lyon County Department on Aging, said as of Wednesday afternoon there were 22 entrants with the oldest entrant being 102 years old.
Saturday’s spelling bee will resemble other spelling bees. Words will be selected from the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, 2003. The word will be pronounced, used in a sentence and pronounced again. A written contest will be held to determine the top 15 spellers, who will participate in the oral contest.
If the contestant misspells the oral spelling of a word, they will drop out and the next word will be given to the next contestant.
Anyone can watch the spelling bee, but they have to be quiet, Morrow said.
“No telling them how to spell the words!” she said, with a laugh.
The winner of the Lyon County spelling bee will represent Lyon County at the Salina Area Agency Spelling Bee on Oct. 11. The winner of the state competition in Salina gets to go to the national competition.
If you want to participate in the Lyon County Senior Spelling Bee there’s still time to sign up. Applications are being taken over the phone until Saturday. Call Morrow at 342-6119.