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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 2016)
Polk County Living Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 22, 2016 5A JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Thursday night, trivia players enjoy dinner while contemplating the answers to the first round of questions at Pressed Coffee & Wine Bar’s weekly event. TRIVIA TIME! Increasingly popular, Thursday ‘Trivia Night’ at Pressed in Dallas is celebrating its one year anniversary this week By Jolene Guzman Test your knowledge The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Do you know which traditional, popular Christmas song was origi- nally written for Thanksgiv- ing? David Shein does and now so does the entire crowd that packed into Pressed Coffee & Wine Bar’s back room for the Thursday Night Trivia contest. Shein serves as the “trivia master” for the weekly event that is growing in popularity, in part because of how much fun he has emceeing the game. Shein gives the answer, with a little pause for sus- pense: “Jingle Bells.” The room erupts in a combination of cheers and groans. That would happen frequently during the night as teams learned whether their answers were correct. Shein, once a contestant on “Jeopardy!” and winner on the trivia game show “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” now enjoys delivering the questions more than an- swering them. “One of the most fun parts of it is watching people’s re- action when you read the an- swer,” he said. “Invariably someone somewhere is say- ing ‘I told you that was it! I told to you write that down!’ It’s very entertaining. For me, it’s more fun than playing.” Shein’s trivia skills aren’t rusty by any means. Brian Dalton, Dallas’ mayor and frequent trivia player, said he tested the host recently, having him deliver the most famous lines from a list of 100 movies. “There were witnesses, my wife, his wife,” Dalton 1. What American novelist is responsible for creating Jurassic Park and the TV show “ER”? 2. What is the capital of New Zealand? 3. On average, how much does a baby elephant weigh: 150 pounds, 200 pounds or 250 pounds? 4. What four annual tennis events make up the Grand Slam? 5. What Western leader used the expression “Trust, but verify” when negotiating with the Soviet Union? 6. What common expression means all of the follow- ing: to rob, to support, to delay and to display? *See answers below JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer Trivia master David Shein asks a question during a round at Thursday trivia night. Final Answer What: Thursday Trivia Night. When: 7 p.m. Where: Pressed Coffee & Wine Bar, 788 Main St., Dallas. For more informa- tion: https://www.face- book.com/PressedCoffee or call 503-751-1666. said. “Out of 100, he must have gotten nine out of (every) 10.” “Yeah, but they are very famous, all of them,” Shein humbly proclaimed. Dalton didn’t let him get away with it. “I made it hard for him. I didn’t read the line and have him tell what movie it’s from,” he said. “Anybody could do that. I gave him the movie and asked him what’s the famous line?” Shein researches all the JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Teams are given cards to write answers on and keep score. questions for trivia night — using books, the Internet, Trivial Pursuit games and player suggestions — but don’t be intimidated. “It’s not a high-pressure thing. It’s not like being on Jeopardy!” Shein said. “I do want to make the questions hard enough that people don’t just ace them. But my overriding goal is to make it fun. I think that is why peo- ple keep come back.” So far, that has been the case. Thursday had 13 teams — around 100 peo- ple — vying to be trivia champs. “This is one of our bigger crowds, but it been like this now four or five weeks run- ning,” Shein said. “It seems to be gaining in popularity.” The rules are fairly simple. Shein keeps a running score for teams through the five rounds of 10 questions. The team with the most points wins. The questions are general knowledge, ranging from history to science, sports to pop culture. Each event has a theme, which one round’s questions are dedicated to. Thursday, the theme was holidays, thus the question about the origins of the song “Jingle Bells.” Sprinkled throughout are puns or riddles Shein adds to keep things light. “Do you know what you get if you drop a piano down a mine shaft?” Shein asks, and then delivers the cringe- inducing punch line. “A flat miner.” “I used that one about a month ago,” he said. “I have a personal theory that the louder someone groans at a pun or any bad joke, the more likely they are to run out and tell the next five people they see.” Perhaps that explains the growth of the tournament, which will be marking its first anniversary with a cele- bration Thursday. Pressed co-owner Rachel Phelps said when trivia night began, there were no expectations. It quickly grew into a hit, and had to be moved to an- other room because there was no place for other cus- tomers to sit, she said. Now the back room is get- ting crowded as more teams come to test their knowl- edge. Next week’s theme is “acronyms and abbrevia- tions” and Shein can’t wait to see the creative names teams come up with based on that. Probably almost as much as players look forward to his questions. “As long as we keep mak- ing it fun, they will keep coming back,” Shein said. Answers 1. Michael Crichton 2. Wellington 3. 200 4. U.S. Open, French Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon. 5. Ronald Reagan 6. Hold up. Women’s Club saves Indy building By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — The Ash Creek Arts Center is no longer in jeopardy of losing its facility at the old Inde- pendence library — a fact that many were unaware was even a possibility. The Polk County Service Club, also known as the Women’s Club, granted the city of Independence rights to use the building, 311 S. Monmouth St., as a library in 1929. After the city built a new library in 2003, the old building was used for Friends of the Library book sales, and later as the head- quarters for Ash Creek Arts Center — not the original purpose of a library. The matter got more con- fusing when members of the Women’s Club and board members from the arts cen- ter began looking into the old deed. “We have found a won- derful mystery recently,” said Traci Weston, president of the service club. “We are here to celebrate. In 1929, we attempted to dedicate that building to the city. We have found out that we have not. We dedicated the land this building (the club- house) is on.” With collaboration by Margaret Tomlinson, director of the Ash Creek Arts Center, Nancy Lodge, Women’s Club member and Independence city councilor, Independence City Manager David Clyne and attorneys, the matter was sorted out, Weston said. She said it was the Women’s Club’s inten- tion — even in 1929 — for the old library building to benefit the public. On Friday, it was rededi- cated to be used for art, liter- ature and education. “ T h e Wo m e n’s C l u b would have been within their rights to take that building back,” Tomlinson said. “Because of the gen- erosity of the Women’s Club and their appreciation of and realization of the impor- tance of arts and literature and education, now we have a building that is secured for community use for those purposes.” Clyne said the city would be a great steward of the old building. “It’s a great building; it’s a beautiful old building,” he said. “I’m glad to give these old buildings life so it can re- main a beautiful old build- ing. When they don’t get used, they tend to fall apart. EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer Members of the Women’s Club will help ensure the Ash Creek Arts Center is no longer in jeopardy. The building was rededicated on Friday. So give them all the life you can to keep this beautiful, historic downtown.” The deed also was modi- fied to include that if the Polk County Service Club should ever dissolve, the city would gain permanent pos- session of the building. Now, the city will have to work at a new name for the building, rather than refer- ring to it as “The Old Inde- pendence Library,” Clyne said with a laugh.