Bingo brings out the chamber's competitive side

“We sort of pride ourselves on being a fun place to come and do stuff, thus the Bingo,” Executive Director of The Paradise Center Suzy Brenner said.

The Longboat Key site hosted this month’s Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce’s after hours event on Aug. 23. What was called Business After Hours has been revamped to Off the Clock.

“Business After Hours is a nationwide thing chambers use,” chapter President Gail Loefgren said. “If you’re off the clock, you don’t necessarily want to do business, but you’re off the clock, so you can do whatever you want.”

About 40 members and prospective members wanted to play bingo, some more competitively than others.

“People get competitive, man,” Brenner joked. “You give them a contest, and they’re like, 'Where were you born!?'” 

Unlike traditional bingo, where players sit in one place, this was networking bingo. Players worked the room to find someone who was born in the same state, owns a cat or has blue eyes. One square read, “Has been in the Observer.”  

Even the door prizes proved this was not your average networking event. Tim Wirt with Frontier donated a giant bottle of tequila.

“They don’t make a bigger bottle,” he said.

The crowd cheered when Zach Easton from Panhandle Cleaning won. Some business was still required: The chamber ushered in three new ambassadors, Tryla Larson, Brandon Solon and Deanna Mesghali. 

Peter Birch is a new member and attended with his wife, Kirsten.

“I grew up here and dragged her with me coming back,” he said. “I’m trying to start a chiropractic business out on the island.” 

The new chiropractic office is located near Christ Church on Gulf of Mexico Drive. A soft opening will be held Monday. 

The next chamber event will be sponsored by Hearing Aids of Sarasota and will be held Sept. 15 at the Lazy Lobster.

“You need to make your reservation soon because it sells out,” event emcee Andrew Vac said.