Meat Raffles

Okay, this is just weird (from twincities.com):

It's early Friday evening and, instead of going for happy hour or catching a movie, Maureen Sullivan and her friends from St. Paul are vying for meat — one raffle ticket at a time.

To the delight of Joe & Stan's in St. Paul, the Sullivan party and about 100 others chose the West Seventh Street spot for their gambling. Typically, meat raffles are held at neighborhood bars, VFWs and other fraternal organizations early evenings or weekend afternoons.

They're run by a designated charity, which buys the meat from local butchers and then sells tickets — usually 30 per raffle at $1 each. The holder of the winning number walks away with an array of steaks, chops, chicken or sometimes a specialty basket or gift certificate. Win or lose, ticket holders have the satisfaction of knowing their money went to a good cause.

Read the full article.

One of the bars mentioned in the article -- the Hexagon Bar -- is in our neck of the woods. From the bar's website:



We might have to check it out. . . .

Even weirder, I mentioned meat raffles to some guys at work, and one of them replied "Oh yeah, this bar around the corner from me has meat bingo. I didn't know what the heck meat bingo was, but I guess it's like these raffles."