The Donald H. Humphreys Barton County Spelling Bee will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, in the Great Bend High School Auditorium.
The bee is sponsored by the Great Bend Kiwanis Club and member Paul Snapp is this year’s chairman.
“We have N.R. Weber returning as the pronouncer, and as judges we have Jean Cavanaugh, Judy Fox and Dr. David Hart,” Snapp said.
“There are 11 elementary and middle schools from Barton County registered at this point,” he continued. “Each of them plans to send a school champ and runner-up to the Barton County Spelling Bee, so we hope to have 22 participants.”
With 11 schools involved, Barton County will be eligible to send two spellers to this year’s Sunflower Spelling Bee in Hays, so the Kiwanis will send Saturday’s champion and runner-up. The winner of the Sunflower Spelling Bee will travel to the Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington, D.C., at the end of May.
Longtime sponsors of the county bee, the Great Bend Kiwanis changed the name of the event several years ago, in honor of the late Donald Humphreys, a local attorney who organized the bee for many years.