By Lucky Kidd
McPHERSON COUNTY, Kan. — The 2024 McPherson County Adult Spelling Bee went 12 rounds Friday night before Gayle Nelson of Marquette came away as the county’s top speller.
Nelson correctly spelled finagle after correctly spelling sovereign, which was missed by runner-up Rose Klataske of Canton. McPherson’s Dinah Strange placed 3rd in the second annual bee held at Three Rings Brewery, after misspelling tourniquet .
12 finalists selected from four local competitions took part in the county bee, of which five were eliminated in the first two rounds. A near capacity crowd gathered in Three Rings’ outdoor seating area for the spelldown, prior to which Phil Walters provided live music.
After presentation of ribbons to the top three spellers, Nelson was presented the traveling trophy as bee champion, adding her name to the book that’s part of the trophy to that of Derek King of Moundridge who won last year’s inaugural event.
The traveling trophy will be at the Marquette Library for the next year.
