Quiz bowl supports Economics Arkansas program

 Q: What had 12 teams and raised $21,000 for Economics Arkansas?
A: The Fort Smith Trivia Challenge held Thursday, Aug. 25, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Parish Center.

The event is a synthesis of popular trivia challenges "Jeopardy," "Trivial Pursuit" and "Quiz Bowl." Four teams took the stage in three preliminary rounds and three semi-final rounds. The top three finishers with combined scores from both preliminary and semi-final rounds then competed in the championship round.

Questions came from the following categories: Arts & entertainment, people & places, science & nature, history, sports & leisure and current events. There were 20 questions per round.

Three questions in each preliminary round and two questions in each semi-final and the championship round were worth 2 points while the remainder were worth a single point. The multi-point questions were all associated with the number "9" since this was the ninth trivia event held in Fort Smith.

A surprising number of questions were answered correctly after emcee David Humphrey read only a few words. Lots of laughs were had by all in attendance — mostly due to incorrect answers or comments from Humphrey or the competitors.

The O.K. Industries team — a poultry processing company — was unable to answer a question about an egg while the students from Northside High School, all under legal drinking age, correctly answered that rum was made from sugar cane.

Judges Fred Williams, Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge James Cox and Mike Fitzhugh arbitrated a few answers that were questionable.

Each team paid $1,500 to enter and received 20 additional tickets for colleagues and guests to attend. Event sponsorships were also sold for $1,000, $500 and $250. The money raised will fund economic education training and resources to K-12 educators and students in Northwest Arkansas. Dinner was catered by Talianos.

The 12 teams were:
ABF Freight System, Inc.
Beall Barclay
Cooper Clinic/University at Fort Smith
Data-Tronics Corp.
First National Bank of Fort Smith
Gerdau Steel no. 1 — Chupacabras
Gerdau Steel no. 2 — Elbonian Liberation Front
Hanna Oil and Gas Co., Inc./Simmons First National Bank
Northside High School
Southside High School
O.K. Industries
Zero Mountain Inc.

Team Beall Barclay won the event and also won the Spirit Award for the most enthusiastic and best team support system. O.K. Industries finished in second place and First National Bank of Fort Smith took third.