Hitting the Jackpot
In honor of Town Square’s 10th anniversary on June 25, we will be sharing notable moments in our history.
Helping a bride-to-be buy her dream wedding dress. Changing a young man’s life after he wins the progressive jackpot. Supporting hundreds of community events and programs.
Town Square bingo has made all of these things possible, but none of it would exist without volunteers Mark and Tonya Alling. While Town Square bingo started when the new community center opened in 2012, it really got serious in 2014 with the Allings’ help.
The Allings’ involvement with bingo began when Town Square co-founder Phil Burkart approached the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary, of which they were members, in the fall of 2013 with a proposition to purchase tables for Town Square bingo. The Legion and the Auxiliary pitched in, as did Green Lake Rotary. Tonya’s business paid the balance - $600 - for bingo tables.
“I was glad to help wrap up the last $600 because after talking with Phil and co-founder Fran Hill, I knew how integral a part of the community Town Square was destined to become,” Tonya said.
After the tables were purchased, Tonya and her daughter, Megan, attended Deer Hunter Widow’s bingo on November 23, 2013 and won a couple of games. Mark and Tonya attended Ugly Sweater bingo the next month and won five games.
“We were so embarrassed to have won so many times that we decided to volunteer instead of play,” Tonya said. “Mark said ‘Ask Phil if he needs help calling the games,’ and the rest is history.”
When the Allings first began volunteering at bingo, they did whatever needed to be done – from setting up tables to helping at concessions to selling 50/50 raffle tickets. Mark has been helping to call bingo and verify winners since the beginning. Tonya helps sell game sheets, tracks the jackpot prize for each game and creates the bingo pattern sheets.
“I try to choose fun patterns that match the theme of the event so players will want to come back month after month,” she said. “I also keep track of how long each game pattern takes, how many balls were called and how many winners there were, and I take those facts into consideration when making future game patterns.”
Tonya says bingo attendees look forward to getting together with friends and family and having a good time and maybe – just maybe – getting to yell “bingo!” and win some cash. There are unexpectedly emotional moments during the games, too, like when a future bride is enabled to make her wedding dress dreams come true with the winnings.
“There is something electric in the air when I’m selling sheets,” Tonya said. “I think the moments that tug at my heartstrings are when someone wins the progressive jackpot and the amount of money they win is life-changing for them. We had two different brides-to-be win the progressive jackpot. One was in tears because she was going to use the money to buy her wedding dress. And when a young man from Omro who had never played bingo before won, his hand was shaking when he filled out the paperwork because he couldn’t believe he had won so much money.”
Mark and Tonya have helped increase bingo attendance (and the payouts) by scouting games in neighboring communities. Their research led them to expand the bingo patterns and games to include a Speedy blackout and a Progressive jackpot blackout.
Town Square bingo gives community members the opportunity to gather together to have a good time, but more importantly, it affords Town Square the opportunity to offer enrichment classes, programs, community events and fabulous rental spaces.
“Mark and I truly look forward to the last Saturday of the month and Town Square bingo,” Tonya said. “It’s fun to be a part of something so many people enjoy that is fueling the great programming and events at Town Square!”