Lauren McManus, left, and Kelly Economou confer on an answer to one of the questions at Thursday night’s Best Trivia Night Ever at the Lynn Museum. Photo by Paula Muller
By Leah Dearborn
LYNN — Trivia night participants put on their thinking caps for a good cause at the Lynn Museum & Historical Society.
Proceeds from the Second Annual Best Trivia Night Ever on Thursday went to support Lynn Economic Opportunity, Inc. (LEO), a childcare program that also helps teach parents important skills.
The event brought out a lively crowd of new faces and old pros at the game, with two former contestants of the game show Jeopardy! in attendance.
One of them was Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy. The other was Carol Ruggiero, a retired Lynn English High School teacher who came to trivia with her former student, Carol Meharg.
“We’re going to encourage them to make it bigger next year,” said Meharg, who was part of the same team as Ruggiero. “Trivia brings people together.”
Trivia tickets sold out even more quickly this year than they did last year, said Kathleen McDonald, director of development and communications at LEO.
McDonald said that the trivia night raised $25,000 in funds for LEO before the event even began or raffle ticket sales could be tallied.
The night was broken down into three rounds of 15 questions that covered a broad number of subjects that ranged from popular culture to sports or cocktail ingredients.
Thirty teams of up to six players competed, including the returning champions from the last annual trivia.
“We intend to take the crown again this year,” said James F. Low, CFO of social service agency Bridgewell and one of the returning victors.
When the questions were tallied, the Bridgewell team did in fact place first for the second year in a row.
Each member of the winning team was awarded a paper crown decorated by youths from the after school program at LEO.
McDonald said the organization chose trivia as a way of doing something fun and different to engage supporters.
