Zonta Club’s team wins Burbank Library’s Trivia Challenge
For the last 18 years, members of the Zonta Club of Burbank have competed in the Burbank Library’s Trivia Challenge, but they had never taken home the trophy.
After answering a slew of questions — some easier than others — and a small kerfuffle with the judges, the women-empowerment organization finally became champions Thursday night at the Ritz Banquet Hall in St. Leon’s Cathedral.
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About 100 people attended the fundraiser for the Burbank Library’s literacy program, which offers free one-on-one tutoring for adults who read or write below an eighth-grade level.
“This is a demonstration of our commitment to literacy, the library and this community, which we are all a part of,” Zonta Club member Nickie Bonner said after posing for photos with a medal around her neck.
The audience tried guessing the answers to the questions, which were asked by Drew Sugars, Burbank’s public information officer.
There were a few softball questions, such as “What is another name for table tennis?” Other questions stumped a few people, including “In what sport does an athlete perform a telemark turn?” and “What year was Michael Jackson’s album ‘Thriller’ released?”
Those questions led to the elimination of the first team, a group representing the House of Secrets comic book store in Burbank, which won the Trivia Challenge in 2014. The answers: a telemark turn is a snow-skiing technique and “Thriller” was released in 1982.
“They gave us no softballs,” said store owner Paul Grimshaw, who was still wrapping his head around the skiing question. “I think we got back-to-back fastballs … I think there’s a conspiracy. We think they Googled us all up and learned that none of us ski and that we don’t like Michael Jackson. I’m just putting it out there.”
On the other hand, Bonner said her team members were given some easy questions until near the end of the competition when they were asked to name a chain of islands off the southeast coast of the United States.
The answer was the Florida Keys, but the Zonta Club members argued that the question was vague, and they were spared from elimination.
“Other than that, it was a good competition and the teams were all excellent as they are every year,” Bonner said.
It might be Zonta Club’s first Trivia Challenge championship, but for Bonner, one of the organization’s biggest accomplishments has been helping the Burbank Library’s literacy program for 18 years.
“Literacy is something that a lot of people take for granted, so to give back and be able to contribute to making a difference in the life of someone that couldn’t read and didn’t have those opportunities means the world to us,” she said.
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
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