Quiz nights have tested the brain of many quiz teams at Sprig and Fern taverns around the region this year and also fundraised $100,000 for an eclectic mix of charities and clubs.
Nine taverns in Nelson and Tasman held weekly quiz nights between March and the end of November where each week a different group sold raffle tickets for prizes it had organised and also collected $5 from every quiz player.
The top fundraising night at Sprig and Fern The Meadows was $1,643 and by the end of the quiz season, owners Nick and Vicki Rose say $27,568 had been raised at the tavern for the various fundraising groups, from tapdancing and cheerleading to Nelson Special Olympics, diabetes and Waimea sheepdog trials.
Nick says groups received 100 per cent of the money and the more effort groups put into finding good prizes and cajoling the quiz teams to buy raffle tickets, the more money they collected.
The tavern has had up to 24 teams of six people at one sitting, giving fundraising groups a sizeable gathering to raise money.
For its part, the tavern pays for the quiz master and adds some prizes to the mix that are then raffled to teams that also vie for the most creative name.
In the mix this year were ‘And in last place’, ‘No eye deer’ and Nick and Vicki’s personal favourite, ‘We thought this was speed dating’.
Some fundraising groups, such as fencing – the sport, not the post and wire type - plus a women’s marching team, even put on a display to rally support from the quiz teams.
“It’s great for us to give them an opportunity to raise much-needed funds - fundraising is so hard. It’s a win-win because it’s good for us and the participants, and good for the groups that benefit from it.”
The quiz nights cease through summer and begin again in March.
“They seem to be a winter sport and what else can you do on a Tuesday night?”
Nick says the success of the quiz nights revolves around quiz masters who come up with the questions each week and have the personality to run the quiz.
“They come up with 60 questions each week, so a lot of work is involved. They don’t just turn up and it’s done. They’re characters and that’s what gets us a good attendance.”
