Taste of Home 'joke' leaves a bad taste

The recent Taste of Home cooking show was a great community event!

Local merchants donated door prizes, staffed exhibit booths, provided manpower needed to run the show, and/or underwrote the cost. It was an enormous undertaking, organized primarily by the Daily Bee and Yoke’s. However, one joke hit a sour note. The emcee (the Daily Bee’s David Keyes) pulled names throughout the evening and handed out generous prizes ranging from local foods to major appliances. The prizes had been a major selling point, featured prominently in pre-show advertising.

So, when David called my name and announced that I’d won a “bag of air” donated by Les Schwab, I laughed and expected to find a coupon or other prize inside and was disappointed that it was, indeed, just a plastic bag, emblazoned with the Les Schwab logo, filled with air.

I heard some negative comments about it from several people and the incident didn't reflect well on Les Schwab (although the joke might have gone over better if winning this “prize” hadn’t knocked my name out of the running to win any other prize).

In the end I’m glad that it was me who won the bag of air, because I know the managers at Les Schwab to be good guys. They hadn’t known of the joke beforehand and invited me to bring in my “bag of air” so that they could make up for it with some very nice prizes. Les Schwab went above and beyond the call to make good of a disappointing situation. I thank them for their sponsorship of the Taste Of Home cooking school and other events that bring this community together.

THOMAS LEO

Cocolalla